Growing Up: Faults & Successes
by BrittLovesSan
Summary: Santana Lopez and Brittany Pierce met as young kids acting together but drifted apart over the years after their show ended. What is going to happen now as adults when they meet again to star in another show together and they realise the past wasn't exactly as it seemed.
1. We Meet And We Meet Again

Chapter 1: We Meet And We Meet Again

Brittany's POV

Acting has always been a passion of mine since I was a toddler and today marks a pivotal part in my small journey to where I am. Today is my first day at my new job and I'm really quite nervous. I've had a few minor roles before in television and a small part in a movie but I've never had a main role before. My mom didn't want me to be overworked when I was at school so she only let me audition for certain roles. I'm 8 years old now and I've managed to convince my mom to let me take on bigger roles so today starts that chapter of my life off.

Also, since I'm going to be spending a lot of my time working then my mom and the producers have set up on set tutoring for me alongside some of the other young actors. I am going to miss school a little bit since most of my friends are there but I'm looking forward to doing this TV show because I love acting. I'm just making my way to the tutoring classroom right now because I need to do a lesson before I'm allowed to start work.

"Hi" I say shyly to the brunette-haired girl sitting at one of the desks as I walk in.

"Hey" the brunette smiles while waving at me.

"I'm Brittany" I smile back.

"Brittany Pierce, right?" the girl asks.

"Yeah" I nod.

"I'm Santana Lopez" the girl introduces herself.

"Oh wow" I say a little starstruck. I can't believe I am actually sitting in class next to Santana Lopez. I knew the star of the show was played by Santana Lopez and I'd have had to meet her at some point but this has really thrown me off guard. The full first season of the show has already aired so I'm the new kid on the block who's joining the show starting at season 2 so this doubles the nerves I feel by meeting Santana first. Not only I am nervous to be doing something new but now I'm nervous that I mess up in front of the best young actress there is.

"Are you ok?" Santana asks me worriedly.

"Yeah, just a little nervous about today" I say honestly.

"Trust me, these classes are easy. I sometimes think the tutoring is a lot easier than actual school" Santana replies.

"Oh, I'm not worried about the curriculum, I'm nervous about coming into a show that has all of these established characters. You all did season one together so it's nerve wracking starting as the new kid" I explain.

"I wouldn't worry about it" Santana shrugs.

"So where are the other kids?" I ask as no one else seems to be here except Santana and I.

"I guess they must be in different grades" she shrugs.

"I'm 8 years old" I tell her.

"I know" Santana smiles. "I asked some of the crew about you because I wanted to know what the new girl would be like" she shrugs.

"That's a little intimidating knowing you know everything about me and I don't know much about you" I reply.

"Didn't you look me up before you came here?" she asks curiously.

"I'm not allowed too much time on the computer because I'm usually at school or working. When my parents do let me use the computer then I like to play games, I don't really search for people" I shrug.

"Ok" Santana nods. "I'm 8 too" she smiles.

We spend the next 10 minutes just talking to each other. We don't really talk about anything in particular, just whatever comes into our heads. Santana was mostly talking about how unhappy she was though that we were left sitting here doing nothing when we should be learning something or getting back on set to film something. I'm not going to lie; I don't really like being left here doing nothing either. Don't get me wrong, Santana seems so cool but it is a bit of a waste of time just sitting here not working nor doing school work.

"Sorry I'm late" a man says while rushing into the room. "You must be Brittany, I'm Adam" he says as he shakes my hand.

"We're going to be late for filming if we don't get class finished so can we just start now" Santana says unamused. Ordinarily I would think it was a little rude to speak to an adult like this but Santana does have a point.

"Yes, I'm sorry" Adam apologises. "Ok, what are we doing today?" he says to himself as he gets quite flustered trying to find his lesson plan for the day.

"We're working on numbers this morning and then we're doing reading later this afternoon once we've done some filming. Well that is supposed to be the plan but poor Brittany and I will likely be fired before season two even starts production since we've done no school work so far" Santana states while glaring at Adam.

"Santana, I am well aware I am late but I don't want any bad behaviour today from you" Adam points out in a way which is meant to sound authoritative I think but it really comes out a bit shaky and scared.

"Whatever" Santana rolls her eyes. "As soon as class is over I'm going to complain to my mom and the production team because this isn't professional" she whispers to me. I'm not going to lie; I did think it would be more professional myself.

Eventually Adam gets himself together and finds his lesson plan and the class begins. Santana and I both seem to breeze through our work which is pretty cool. I've always been good with numbers and Santana seems exactly the same so we managed to finish class on time even when we started it late. Santana then shows me where the bathroom is so I can quickly go before we then head onto set and start filming. I've only just met Santana today but I think she's the coolest person ever. I really hope she wants to be my friend because I'd like to be hers.

"Ok everyone, that is a wrap for today. We'll see you all for the same again tomorrow" one of the crew members tells us all.

"You're a really great actress" I tell Santana as I hurriedly follow her back to the dressing rooms.

"Thanks" she smiles. "I actually thought you were pretty good too" she adds.

"Thank you" I say while blushing slightly. If the star of the show thinks I'm good then surely I must be somewhat good, right? "Can I ask you a question?" I say nervously.

"Sure" Santana shrugs.

"This might sound weird and childish but I guess that doesn't matter since we are children but anyway" I say while shaking my head to stop myself from rambling on to something else. "It might sound lame but I think you're really cool Santana and I'm going to be here for a while and we're going to work together a lot so will you be my friend?" I ask, trembling slightly in case I'm making a big fool of myself right now.

"I'll be your friend" Santana smiles at me, her big brown eyes sparkling in the light.

"Really?" I ask surprised. I thought I was being a total idiot a second ago.

"Yeah, you seem cool and talented so I can be friends with you" she smiles again.

"You think I'm cool?" I ask in amazement. I always find I'm a bit of a dork and the least cool person in the room.

"Yeah so I'll see you at work tomorrow, friend" Santana smirks. "My mom is waiting so I need to go" she adds before waving at me and then taking off. I literally do a little celebration dance before getting my things and going to meet my mom to go home.

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I've been working on the show for about 6 months now and everything is going great. My grades are looking good all thanks to the on-set tutoring and the show seems to be going from strength to strength. I've had a lot of fun filming and Santana and I have become like best friends so I'm super happy every Monday morning I wake up because I get to see my best friend for the whole day. Friday afternoons aren't too great though because we don't work weekends so it means as soon as I leave work on a Friday then I have to wait two whole days before seeing Santana again. Sometimes I do hang out with friends from when I used to go to school but it's just not the same. They don't work in the same business as I do, in fact they don't even work, so they don't understand some things the same way as Santana and I do.

"Ok everyone, that is a wrap for today so have a good weekend and we'll see you bright and early Monday morning" the crew tells us all.

"I guess I'll see you Monday Britt" Santana smiles at me as we get ready to go home. She's starting calling me Britt and I think it's pretty cool. She's the only one that I allow to call me Britt so it's like our little best friend thing between the two of us.

"It sucks we need to wait 2 days but I guess it has to happen" I sigh. "Actually, maybe I have a way we can hang out for longer" I say as an idea pops into my head.

"What is it?" Santana asks excitedly.

"Just wait and see" I say before running over to my mom. "Mom, can Santana come to dinner tonight?" I ask pleadingly.

"Oh, I'm not sure sweetheart, I'll need to ask her mom" my mom replies.

"Ok well do it now before they leave" I say while pointing to Santana and her mom.

"Don't speak to me like that Brittany" my mom warns me.

"Sorry mommy, I just want Santana to come to our house for dinner and to play tonight" I say.

"Ok, let's go and see if we can make that happen" my mom says as she smiles at me. We then go and talk to Santana and her mom.

"I don't see why Santana can't hang out tonight" Maribel smiles.

"Is there anything I need to know because we've not had Santana over before?" my mom asks.

"She doesn't have any dietary requirements" I tell my mom.

"Ok but I think we'll let Maribel answer that question" my mom says with a chuckle.

"No, no dietary requirements or anything like that" Maribel replies. "We are going to visit her grandparents tomorrow so I don't really want her out too late though" she adds.

"No that's completely ok" my mom smiles. "We'll just get some dinner and the girls can play or watch a movie for a little while and then we'll bring Santana home" she says.

"Can't we have a sleepover mommy and Maribel can pick her up in the morning to go to her grandparent's house?" I ask.

"Yeah I want to do that mom" Santana says excitedly.

"Sweetheart I'm not sure about you sleeping over because it's a long drive tomorrow to see grandma and grandpa so I need you well rested. If you stay with Brittany then you might end up staying up all night talking" Maribel points out.

"I can sleep in the car tomorrow" Santana shrugs.

"You don't have a change of clothes or anything for tomorrow. We also don't know if Brittany and her parents have plans tomorrow" Maribel replies.

"No plans" I say loudly.

"We don't have any plans so Santana is more than welcome to stay tonight" my mom tells Maribel.

"Please mom" Santana pleads.

"Ok you can stay tonight" Maribel replies so Santana and I jump up and down excitedly. "I want you to come home with me just now though and we'll get you some things like a change of clothes and then I'll drop you off at Brittany's house in 20 minutes or so, ok?" she adds.

"Ok" Santana nods.

"That gives Brittany some time to tidy her room before she has a guest over" my mom teases me.

Santana and her mom head home to get Santana ready and my mom drives me home. By the time we get home and fill my dad in on the plans and I get a chance to quickly tidy up, Santana arrives. Her parents say goodnight to her and then leave so my parents sort out dinner for me, my best friend and my siblings and then we all eat together. Santana and I then head up to my room and spend time together. We play games, watch movies and just have a lot of fun while eating junk food.

"Tonight has been so much fun" Santana tells me as she gets comfortable on my bed to settle with another movie and some popcorn.

"I've enjoyed it and it's going to be cool to have you spend the night" I smile.

"I don't get to do this very much and hang out with friends or have sleepovers" Santana says sadly.

"Do you not?" I say surprised. Santana is amazing so why wouldn't she do this all the time with all of her friends.

"No" she shrugs. "I could probably count on one hand the number of true friends I really have. Sometimes I'll hang out with those friends but they're not in the acting business like me and you so it can be hard sometimes to get time to see them since we have different schedules" she adds.

"I can relate to that. I have a small group of good friends too and sometimes I could go weeks without seeing them" I agree. "That's why I am so glad we're best friends now" I smile.

"Me too" Santana smiles back while turning around to hug me.

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Santana, myself and the rest of the cast have just wrapped filming of season two of the show so we're about to go on TV and promote the season finale. It's quite an interesting end to the season because we've already been picked up for season three so the crew could afford to be a bit ruthless since they knew it wasn't the end. As much as I'm looking forward to being on TV and getting to talk about my character, today is a little bittersweet. The show has a short hiatus between seasons so I'm not sure if I'm going to see Santana much during the break. Even if we did persuade our parents to let us hang out, it would be nowhere near the five days a week we get at the moment.

"Are you ok Brittany, you've been staring at the wall for a while now" Santana asks as she comes over to me in her cute little dress. I too am all dressed in a little flowery number.

"Yeah, I'm just sad" I say with a sigh.

"About us not seeing each other as much since we take a break in filming?" she asks.

"Yeah, you feel the same?" I ask hopefully. I'm not hopeful Santana is sad but it would be nice to know she feels as close to me as I do to her.

"Yeah but my mom said we can hang out sometimes. Plus, with the schools also on their summer break then we might be able to hang out with our other friends" she tells me.

"Yeah, that's true" I nod with a smile. I'm not exactly smiling on the inside though. In theory it sounds good to hang out with my old friends but what I really want is to hang out with my best friend.

"Ok, we need to go now" Santana says while taking my hand and pulling me with her as the main cast goes out on stage for the interview.

All of us get sat down in the seats provided and the audience gives us all a round of applause as we get settled. The host of the show introduces us and the rest of the cast before giving the audience a brief description of the show. He then talks to a few of the adult cast members before turning to Santana and I. Since Santana is the star of the show then he talks to her in depth first before turning back to me again.

"Now Brittany, you only just joined the show in season two and you were only to have a few scenes an episode but it seems like you've had quite the positive feedback because you're on the show a lot more permanently than initially planned" the host says.

"Yeah and it's been so much fun" I smile.

"Has it been fun working alongside Santana because she's quite talented" the host asks.

"Santana is the best" I smile while looking over at my best friend.

"Don't get me wrong, you're quite talented too" the host adds. "Has you been getting a lot of good reviews for your character or do you not really look into that stuff?" he asks.

"I get a lot of fan mail for a young kid" I smile.

"She gets more than me sometimes" Santana teases me.

"It's pretty cool for people to like me" I say. I joined the cast late and there are bigger stars on the show than me so I'm humbled for people to like me and my character. "Santana is the real talent though" I state.

"Oh stop" Santana says while playfully pushing me.

The host talks a bit more to the other cast members again before asking some questions about what to expect from the last episode of the season. We weren't allowed to tease too much but we did get to divulge some information about it. We then got to sign some autographs which was so cool but so weird at the same time. I've never really signed autographs before so my hand did get a little sore by the end. It was really nice though to know that I have some fans and that they appreciate my acting.

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I'm in a bit of a weird point in my life right now because everything is changing. I'm only 10 years old now and my life is changing so fast. We've just finished season 3 of the TV show which was exciting to shoot but apparently there isn't going to be another season so after season 3 airs, the show is finished. It's been so much fun working with everyone and I'm going to miss them all but I'll miss Santana the most. We've become best friends over the last 2 years and now everything has to change. We both need to find other jobs so I guess we probably won't see each other for a while now. The only positive aspect at the moment is that a few other TV shows have spoken to my mom and would like me to audition so I'm hoping something good comes from that.

"Hey Santana, guess what?" I say excitedly as I run onto set.

"What?" she asks excitedly back.

"I have two more auditions next week" I tell her.

"That's amazing Brittany, I'm so happy for you" Santana smiles.

"What about you?" I ask.

"I only have 1 audition at the moment" Santana replies with a sigh.

"That's still great Santana" I smile.

"I can't put all of my eggs in one basket though so I'd have felt better with a back-up plan or something" she replies.

"I know but this audition is for the part alongside the part I'm going for so we're destined to get it together because we've already worked together and everyone can see how good we are" I say optimistically. I don't know how it happened but two parts for the same show came up and we both managed to get an audition.

"Ok" Santana smiles. "Thanks for boosting my mood Britt, you're the bestest friend ever" she says while hugging me.

"I'm only a good friend to you because you're an even more amazing friend to me" I smile back. "Anyway, we have a few things to wrap up so we better get back to work now" I say.

"Yeah, let's go" she agrees and then we get back to work.

After everything is wrapped up and some of the cast and crew say some final words, the show ends. We all say our goodbyes and get ready to head to whatever we're all doing next. Santana and I are just getting our personal belongings before we go to meet our moms to head home. We kinda wanted to hang out together tonight but we've got some lines to learn for our auditions next week and since we have no job now then it's important we do well next week.

"We'll see each other soon because we're both meant to get these parts" I tell Santana.

"Ok" she smiles. I lean in and we hug each other until our moms have to pry us apart so we can go home.

"Come on girls, let's get home" my mom says.

"I'll arrange a playdate for you with Susan the next chance we get when you're both free so don't worry" Maribel tells Santana.

"We're not tiny kids' mom, we don't need playdates arranged for us. We can call each other sometime ourselves or you could just buy me a cell phone and I could keep in touch with Brittany all the time" Santana shrugs.

"Santana, I've spoken to your dad and we might see about getting you your own phone but it would be for emergencies not for talking all night on the phone" Maribel says seriously.

"Fine" Santana huffs. We then say goodbye to each other again before we both leave in different directions. I'm not going to lie; I do have a slight tear in my eye because everything just seems too final to me.

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It's been a long few weeks of auditioning and sucking up to people but I think things are finally looking up. I've been called to come in to talk to some producers about a show I auditioned for and surely it has to be good because they don't call you to come in to say you didn't get the part. Things are also looking especially good because it's the show Santana got to audition for too so if I get it then I'm praying Santana does too.

"Thank you for coming in today Brittany" the man smiles. "Please, take a seat" he tells my mom and I so we sit down.

"I was a bit worried when I didn't hear from anyone for a while" I say nervously.

"Well worry no more, you've got the part" he smiles.

"Well done sweetheart" my mom says while hugging me tightly.

"This is amazing" I say while fighting the urge to jump up and down.

"We thought you nailed the audition and we knew there was no better person for the part so congratulations" the man says.

"I'm guessing Santana got the part too, right?" I say excitedly. "Mom can we call her when we get home?" I ask as I turn to look at my mom.

"Oh, did no one tell you Brittany, Santana passed on the role" the man states.

"No, Santana wouldn't do that" I shake my head in disbelief. We really wanted to keep working together and this would have been the perfect way to do just that.

"She did, I'm sorry" the man shrugs.

"Maybe I shouldn't do this show either then" I say with a sigh.

"Brittany you're our star of the show, you have to do it" he states worriedly.

"The show seems good and I'm grateful for the role but the main driving force for me to do this was the thought of working with my best friend" I say sadly. This is the worst day ever.

"Apparently a better role came along that she just had to take so she's not really on our radar anymore. We have another actress lined up who is really talented that wants to work with you so it's going to be ok" the man states.

"I just wanted Santana" I say while turning to look at my mom who can clearly see the sadness on my face as she hugs me.

"Is there any chance we can think about this before accepting the role?" my mom asks.

"No, I'm sorry, we don't have time" the man shakes his head. "We need an answer now so we can start proceedings" he adds.

"I don't know what to do mom" I say conflicted. If I say yes then I'm contracted to the show so I can't break it but if I say no then I've given up an amazing acting opportunity.

"I'm not sure either sweetheart" my mom replies with a sigh.

"I suppose the clear message of today is that Santana is no longer doing the show so I guess that might be the sign that we weren't on the same wavelength" I point out. At the end of the day we're not working together because of Santana's choice so maybe I do just take the role since I love acting.

"Acting is what you love and I know it sucks you're not working together and it's became a weird situation but you didn't cause Santana to not take the role so I'm sure she can't be mad at you for taking it" my mom points out.

Whatever is going on with Santana, it really isn't my doing because I wanted us to work together so why should I pass on this great opportunity in the off chance my best friend still likes me. She said no to working with me so I can't screw this up when she clearly doesn't feel the same as me. If I pass too then I have lost Santana and a great chance whereas if I say yes then my hard work has meant something at least. I might call her later to find out what's going on and why she said no but right now, maybe I do need to put me first because the acting business is tricky so I should take every chance I get.

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***12 YEARS LATER***

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I feel like I'm a kid again because today is my first day at a new job in a long time. After getting a few gigs as a child, my mom wanted to make sure I had a good education behind me to fall back on so I went back to school permanently. I did some acting on the side during school but today is my first day starting a more long-term job because the TV show I'm in has been picked up for a full season. Between finishing school and now I've had a few acting roles but have had to keep a steady job too so I have quite a varied job history. I also have a semester at college behind me but I just didn't like it so I quit and kept trying to pursue acting.

I've just met with some of the crew and had a chance to talk to them and find out some important stuff so I'm now about to meet some of the cast. Not everyone from the cast is here yet but those who are, are all in another room hanging out before we get started. Once everyone has got here and met with the crew then I think we're all getting together and kicking off production of the new show. After getting a little lost as to where I'm going, I eventually find the room the cast is to wait in until everyone arrives.

"Uh…this is the right room to wait in, right?" I say to clarify as there only seems to be one person waiting at the moment.

"Yeah, this is the waiting room" the woman replies while turning around. "Holy shit" she mutters under her breath.

"Are you ok?" I ask confused. Why is she staring at me right now?

"Fine" the woman replies coldly while continuing to stare at me before looking away and sitting down on the empty couch.

"Hey, I'm Brittany by the way" I say cheerily while holding out my hand to the woman in front of me.

"I know who you are" the brunette tells me while making no movement to shake my hand. It actually looks like she is glaring at me for some reason.

"You do?" I ask confused.

"Yes, you're Brittany Pierce" she states.

"Yeah, and you are?" I say. I am really struggling to place this woman right now because she doesn't look familiar to me. Surely if she knows me though then I should know her.

"Seriously, you don't remember me?" she asks annoyed.

"I'm sorry" I apologise. I really don't want to hurt this lady's feelings but I honestly don't know who she is right now.

"Santana Lopez" the woman says with a sigh.

"No, you're not Santana Lopez. I know who Santana Lopez is" I say with a laugh. "Santana is tall and really skinny whereas you're like smaller than me and a little curvier I guess" I add. I certainly don't mean curvy as in she looks bad, I mean she doesn't look like the 10-year-old I knew.

"I am her you ass. I grew up and got boobs and a butt" she tells me. "I drunk a lot of coffee growing up too so I'm not as tall as I could be now. I was tall for my age when we were younger but the coffee sort of stunted my growth" she adds.

"But…"

"I am the same person Brittany but why am I so surprised you don't recognise me. You've always been so self-involved so no wonder you don't know what else is happening round about you" Santana replies.

"I just can't believe you're Santana Lopez" I say in awe. I have not seen her in years so I suppose a part of me wouldn't remember her but another part of me just can't believe this could be the same girl.

"Like I say, I grew up to be a woman who invested in a pair of hair straighteners. Also, my mom finally gave in and let me start shaving my legs" Santana shrugs.

"Ok" I laugh. Even though our moms managed our young careers and introduced us to the world of acting, they still knew we were just children at the end of the day so they didn't force anything upon us. They especially didn't make us do adult things so 8-year olds really had no business shaving their legs to look a certain way for the cameras.

"You don't look too much different from when we were kids. A little taller maybe and older I guess with more womanly features since we are women now" she states. A small hint of a smile appearing on her face as she talks.

"Now that I'm really getting a chance to look at you, I can see that little Santana in you" I smile.

"What are you doing here anyway Brittany?" Santana asks questioningly. That small smile now suddenly nowhere to be seen.

"I've just been cast as one of the main characters" I shrug.

"Are you fucking serious?" Santana asks outraged.

"Yeah" I nod confused.

"I am one of the main characters" she tells me.

"Oh, that's so cool. At least we'll both know someone on the show then" I smile.

"No, it's not cool actually" Santana sighs.

"Fine" I sigh. "Fuck you I guess then" I say while shaking my head in annoyance. I thought since we were grownups now then we could at least move on from whatever happened in the past. Santana was the one who disappeared without a word but you don't see me acting childish about it so why is she being so rude to me.

Do you know from that day 12 years ago when I found out about the new show I booked, I never once heard from Santana? She quite literally disappeared from my life. A part of me wanted to call her so badly when I got home to see what happened but another part of me couldn't bring myself to do it because I was worried she wouldn't pick up and then I would really know she wasn't going to be my best friend anymore. However, as the days went on, they turned to months and then suddenly a year went by and I guess we both moved on because I put the memories to the back of my head and lived my life. It just became so long from seeing or hearing from each other that it didn't feel important anymore to find out what happened. I have no idea what the hell happened from Santana's end though because one day we're promising to keep in touch and then the next she vanishes. My mom was going to call Maribel to see how things were because they became close friends over the years but I didn't want her to because then she would know why Santana hated me so I had to forget about everything.

"Don't you tell me to fuck off" Santana states annoyed.

"You are the one who is being rude to me. I thought we could be civil now that we're both grownups but I guess not" I say while rolling my eyes.

"I will never be civil to you Brittany Pierce" Santana shakes her head at me. "As far as I'm concerned you are…"

"Ok ladies I just want to update you on a slight issue" one of the production staff says, interrupting Santana and I in our argument. It's probably for the best though because Santana might regret what she was going to say and to be honest I don't want to hear the end of the sentence.

"Sure, what's up?" I say confused.

"There was something wrong with our emailing system so a lot of the other cast aren't expected to be here for another half an hour so I'm afraid there is going to be some waiting about at the moment until they get here" he tells us.

"Really?" Santana asks annoyed. I'm a little annoyed myself that we need to wait around now.

"As soon as everyone is here, we'll start" the production member says before leaving again.

"This is just fantastic, it's brilliant really" Santana says sarcastically. "I finally think I am getting somewhere in life and then this shit happens to ruin it all" she sighs. I'm a little amused at the fact she swears now. I mean I do too but the little 10-year-old Santana never swore, our parents would kill us if we did.

"That's a little extreme Santana, everyone will be here within half an hour so I would hardly think it's a major setback" I say honestly. We're just getting a little held back; nothing is exactly ruined I wouldn't say.

"I wasn't talking about the rest of the cast being late. I was talking about you being here. I finally think my life is turning around and then you pop up unannounced to steal the show" Santana sighs.

"What exactly have I done wrong Santana?" I ask. I'm getting the feeling she doesn't really like me all that much and I don't know why. The last time we physically saw each other we were on good terms and to be honest, Santana is the one that had the problem. One day we were best friends and the next she vanished from my life and now has the audacity to act like it's my fault. I was heartbroken when Santana didn't take that role to work with me again.

"Don't act like you don't know" Santana says while rolling her eyes at me.

"I'm sorry but I actually don't know what I did" I say confused.

"That just says everything about you then. All you ever think about is yourself and never about anyone else. Of course you don't know what you did because all you thought about was Brittany" she states.

"That is not true at all" I say surprised. What she is implying could not be further from the truth because Santana was my best friend. I felt so close to her and I would never have wanted to affect our friendship.

"Look, I am not here to argue with you. I am here to do a job so if it's all the same to you, I'd rather we didn't speak to each other unless we're on set and have to do a scene together" Santana sighs.

"Seems extravagant but fine" I sigh too. I am honestly so confused by everything and a little hurt that she blames me for something I didn't do but there is nothing I can do right now.

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I've been working on the new show for a good number of weeks now and everything seems to be going well. All the cast and crew are great and production is coming along just nicely. My only concern at the moment is Santana. Well I don't exactly mean I am concerned about her; I mean I am concerned about our situation. I still have no clue how we ended up to where we are now. She still doesn't talk to me outside of work and if she talks to me at all on set then it's a necessity. We work well during scenes together since we're acting but as soon as 'cut' is yelled, she goes back to ignoring me and keeping away from me. I'm just walking into work right now when one of the assistants comes running over to me.

"Hey Brittany" he replies nervously.

"Hey, what's up?" I smile.

"We've had a slight issue with some of the trailers this morning due to some bad drainage problems so we're having to get people to share trailers for a few days maybe even a week" Scott explains.

"Wait…seriously?" I say panicked. I don't want to seem like a diva who needs their own trailer and can't share but this isn't ideal. I use my trailer for rest and running lines so I need the peace and quiet and I won't have that if I'm in with someone else.

"Don't worry it's not your trailer" he replies.

"I'm still going to have to share with someone though since they'll be in my trailer, right?" I ask with a sigh.

"Yeah, I'm sorry" Scott nods. "We're trying to get the problems sorted as quickly as possible though so I'm hoping it takes no more than a week" he adds.

"A week is still a long time but ok" I shrug. Like I say it's not ideal but what else could we do?

"Anyway, I just wanted to let you know and I'll see you on set soon" Scott says before leaving. I then continue on my way to my trailer. Luckily enough when I get there no one else is in it yet so I can have a quick tidy up to make room for my colleague.

"Oh, for fuck's sake" I groan when the door opens.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me" Santana states while shaking her head in annoyance.

"Why are you so surprised, this is my trailer?" I ask confused. I didn't know who was bunking in with me but Santana should know which trailer she was sent to so why is she acting like she didn't know I would be inside.

"I didn't know it was your trailer now, did I?" she replies with a sigh.

"Did my name on the door not give it away at all?" I ask smartly. "Or perhaps the fact we have been working together for weeks now so we all know whose trailer is whose?" I add.

"I don't take anything to do with you Brittany so no, I didn't know this was yours and no I did not read the name on the door when I walked in" Santana replies.

"I guess we'll just need to make the best of a really bad situation here" I sigh. "I've made some room on this side of the trailer for any of your stuff you want to sit down and there are some cushions here you can have to get comfortable when you're in here" I say.

"I don't want anything of yours" Santana tells me.

"Perhaps you should turn around and walk back out the door then because this is my trailer so if you don't want anything of mine then you shouldn't be in here" I point out.

"You don't own the trailer Brittany so it's not really yours" Santana shrugs.

"Look, can you and I not just cut out this childish crap. We have to work together so can we not be a bit less mean to one another. I really don't know what I did years ago to upset you but clearly it was something and clearly you have no thoughts to bring me up to speed so let's just try and work together please and forget about the past for the moment" I state.

"I don't want to be your friend Brittany" Santana shakes her head.

"Yeah I got that loud and clear so I'm not asking you to. I just think we could be a little more professional during working hours" I say sadly. It is evident Santana hates me and I can't help feeling hurt by that because she was my closest friend for those two years and I don't know where it all went wrong.

"Fine" Santana huffs.

"I was just about to read over my lines again for today and we're in quite a few scenes together so do you want to run lines with me. I always find it easier to practice with someone than on my own" I say. I've always preferred it that way and I think Santana does to.

"Don't push it Brittany" Santana warns. "I am coming around to the idea of being civil but we're still not friends who run lines so no, I do not want to" she adds.

"Ok" I nod. Every time she shoots me down, I just feel so deflated and sad. I don't know why I find it so hard to swallow that she doesn't like me. I'm an adult and I haven't seen her since we were kids so why does this bother me so much. I should just move the hell on like I did for the previous 12 years.

"I think I'm just going to wait on set until my scene is ready to start" Santana states.

"Ok well I'll see you soon then because we have a scene in not too long" I smile.

"Yeah, whatever" Santana says and then abruptly leaves. I stay in my trailer for a little while going over my lines until I'm called onto set to start one of my scenes.

"Ok, places people" a crew member shouts and then we get the scene started. It really doesn't take long at all to shoot because once Santana and I switch our acting caps on, we get it done. For the whole-time shooting, we forget about everything from the past and focus on work so it's like we never had an issue in the first place.

"You delivered that last line perfectly" I compliment Santana as the scene ends.

"We work together, I don't work for you so don't tell me how I did during the scene because it really is no business of yours" she snaps.

"I was just giving you a compliment. I didn't mean it to come off as if I had asked you previously to do something a certain way" I sigh. Seriously what is wrong with me, why do I keep trying with Santana when it's clear it's never going to work out.

"Complimenting me won't make me forgive you for the past" she assures me.

"Not to be rude or conceited but I don't need forgiven. I didn't do anything wrong" I shrug.

"You didn't, ok" Santana says in disbelief.

"Unless we're talking about the last day on set when we were kids and I stole your fries then sure, I did do something wrong" I nod.

"You know that's not what I would be mad at so grow up Brittany" she glares at me.

"Trust me honey, I've grown up" I state.

"Don't call me honey" she shakes her head at me but I just ignore the comment.

"If anyone has to grow up then it's you because you're being very childish with the way you act around me. Is it not clear to you that I have no idea what I did to upset you?" I ask. I'm sick and tired of going around in circles about this supposed thing I did to her.

"You're playing a game Brittany and I don't want to play with you. You can pretend you don't know but I know you know" Santana tells me.

"We were best friends; do you honestly think I could hurt you purposely?" I question.

"I don't know Brittany. I thought you would never hurt me but you did so I just don't know you at all anymore. In fact, I don't think I ever really knew the real you" she shrugs.

"We were fucking 8 years old when we met, how bad could I have been?" I say while rolling my eyes. Fair enough if we only just met a year ago and she thought I was a mischievous bitch playing a game to screw her over but she knew me as a child. How would an 8-year-old know the kind of things to do that would mess with something. I mean I know kids bully other kids but this is different because neither of us are bullies. It seems to me like Santana thinks I was pretending to be her friend or something. I just wasn't clever as an 8-year-old to really do something like that.

"I don't want to talk about this with you" she sighs.

"Well I want to because I am done with the games. Just tell me what the hell I did and maybe I can explain" I say, getting slightly angry. It's just honestly gone on too long now. She either needs to tell me her problem or she buries it and we can move the hell on.

"Is there a problem between the two of you?" one of the producers asks us.

"No, no problem" Santana smiles.

"Everything is fine" I nod. We've both got our best acting faces on right now.

"Good, keep the volume down then because we're about to start another scene" he says before walking away.

"This isn't over" I whisper to Santana. I will figure out this mess.

"Whatever" she shrugs at me.

It's such a blessing that we're both great actors because none of this would have been possible. We wouldn't be able to work together if we couldn't act so well because you would see in our faces just how frustrated we were. Santana frustrated at the fact she needs to see me again and me frustrated at the fact I have no idea what the hell happened. I've always found Santana talented in her work but even more so now just by how quickly she can go from hating me to looking like she loves me. We're supposed to be friends and like each other on the show so it is a complete 180 compared to real life.

* * *

Let me know what you think of the new story and if it's worth continuing. What do you think happened with Santana during the 12 years and why is she so mad at Brittany?


	2. Strained Relationships

Chapter 2: Strained Relationships

Santana's POV

I'm just getting ready to go to work right now but I'm in one of those negative moods where I just don't want to go. Acting has always been close to my heart and I am so glad I have finally found a decent role to sink my teeth into at the moment but it's just not as joyful as I thought it would be. I've struggled for a good number of years to get a more prominent role because it was always just the odd commercial or one episode of a show so I should be happy that I've been given a main role for at least a full season. I guess seeing Brittany again has put a bit of a dampener on my recent success because it's brought the past back to the forefront of my mind.

"Santana, are you still in bed?" I hear my mom shout from downstairs.

"No mom, I'm up" I reply.

"I don't want you to be late so are you almost ready for work?" she asks.

"Yes mom" I say annoyed while leaving my bedroom and heading downstairs. I'm 22 years old so I don't need my mom getting me up in the morning.

"You need to get some breakfast and be on your way" my mom tells me as I walk into the kitchen.

"Yes Maribel" I sigh.

"Don't be cheeky Santana. For as long as you live under my roof, you will play by my rules now get something to eat and get going" she tells me seriously.

Like I said, I really struggled with getting a steady job in acting for a while so I am unfortunately still living at home with my parents and siblings. The little money I did make over the years went straight into paying for things I needed for future auditions and stuff like that. I'm really hoping with this full season of the show then I can get myself on a more stable plane financially. I sometimes found myself paying more to get ready and get to an audition than I got paid for booking the gig. The cost of putting gas in my car to get to all these auditions was a lot because I couldn't be picky with what roles to try out for. I had to go for anything and everything so I was driving all over the place to get work.

"Urgh…there's no milk left for my coffee mom" I groan.

"Perhaps that's because I asked you to pick some up yesterday when you were at the store. It was your day off work" my mom replies.

"I'm sorry, I forgot" I sigh. "Can you get some after work?" I ask.

"Santana, you are a grown woman now with a steady pay check at the moment so I think you can now contribute to getting a few groceries since you do eat and drink those groceries" she tells me.

"But you're my mommy so you're supposed to look after me" I say with my best cute smile as I flutter my eyelashes.

"It didn't work on me when you were 8 so it's not going to work on me now" my mom replies with a smile.

"It used to work when Brittany did it to her mom when we were 8" I sigh.

"Speaking of, how are things working out with you and Brittany?" my mom asks curiously.

"Just the same as when we started. She keeps trying to talk to me and wanting to be my friend but I'm not interested" I shrug.

"I know you were hurt but have you actually talked to her now that you're adults and see if you could smooth things out?" she asks me.

"I don't want to smooth things out mom, you know how much she hurt me. She was my best friend for two years and suddenly she wasn't and I lost the person I was closest to. To make it worse I was only 10 years old so you know how much it's affected me" I reply.

"I know but by the sounds of things she doesn't really understand what is going on so there must be some sort of miscommunication. Things just don't seem to add up to me" she tells me.

"Whether they add up to you or not doesn't make a difference to me. This is how I feel and she hurt me so I don't want to be her friend. I don't even want to look at her sometimes but I have to because we have to work together" I sigh. Why did my dream job have to come at the cost of working with Brittany, it's just not fair?

"You two were just so close all those years ago, I just struggle to see what went wrong. You've never been close with anyone like that since Brittany" my mom replies.

"I just don't know who I can trust anymore" I shrug. The acting business is a tricky one at the best of times trying to trust people but after Brittany did what she did, I've lost trust in everyone I think. The only people I can count on are my parents and my siblings. I mean how sad is that? Don't get me wrong, I do make friends when I'm on a job but I've just never had a friendship that lasted beyond work.

"It's ok honey, I won't push it anymore" my mom says while leaning down to hug me. "I need to go to work, I'll see you when you get home" she says and then takes off. I meanwhile get breakfast and then set off to work.

As soon as I park up at work, I make my way towards my trailer. Well I say my trailer but it's not actually mine, it's Brittany's. We are still all having to share trailers because of some stupid drainage or plumbing problem. I've saw my fair share of typical storylines by working in TV and watching it and you'd be forgiven for thinking this whole thing with Brittany and me sharing a trailer was some sort of setup like they do in TV but apparently, it's not. It is really weird though why some trailers have been magically fixed but mine is one of the ones that haven't.

"Morning Santana" Brittany smiles at me as I walk into the trailer.

"Hi" I say as I sit my things down at the side. I can't exactly ignore her all of the time since we do need to see each other a lot more now.

"I'm just on my way to hair and makeup right now so you have the trailer to yourself" she tells me as she picks up her phone.

"I actually need to get to hair and makeup too" I reply with a sigh. I thought I could get a small break from her but I've barely been in work 5 minutes and already we need to spend time together.

"Do you want to walk together?" Brittany asks curiously.

"What do you think?" I question. I know it sounds childish but it's how I feel.

"I'm guessing, no not really?" she replies.

"Correct so you go ahead and I'll be there in a few minutes once you've left our trailer" I state.

"Ok" Brittany nods and then heads to the hair and makeup trailer. I then make my own way there 5 minutes later. When I walk in, I feel lucky because there are a few others inside as well getting into character so it's hopefully not going to be awkward with just Brittany and I there. However, my luck runs out in seconds as everyone eventually leaves except Brittany.

"What?" I ask confused as Brittany keeps looking at me.

"N-nothing" she shakes her head.

"No, what is it?" I ask. She was obviously going to say something so I want to know what it was.

"It really doesn't matter, honestly" Brittany shrugs.

"Fine" I shrug back. I don't know why she is being weird but I don't really care.

"You called my trailer our trailer earlier, does that mean you're warming to me a bit since you're acknowledging we share things and work together?" Brittany asks hopefully as she looks over at me.

"It was a slip of the tongue" I shrug. "The sooner my trailer is ready, the better. I might actually go and speak to some of the maintenance people if we get a short break later because this just isn't acceptable anymore" I say with a sigh.

"Unacceptable in the fact of how long it's been taking to sort the problem or unacceptable because you don't think you should be made to share with me?" she asks curiously.

"Both of them" I state. "It really is no picnic to be sharing with you though" I say truthfully.

"I always thought I was a pretty easy-going person. Usually anyone gets along with me" Brittany shrugs.

"I must admit, I did think you used to be easy going and really friendly to everyone" I point out. It's true because I used to think Brittany was an amazing person.

"But just not now I'm guessing" she states.

"Exactly" I nod. "I am not the naïve little 10-year-old anymore who thinks highly of you. I can see your true colours now. I wish I had seen who you really were when we were younger but at least I know now" I shrug.

"I was 10 years old Santana, what could I have possibly done to hurt you so badly?" Brittany asks with a sigh.

"What does age have to do with it?" I ask with a frown.

"My point is that how could a 10-year-old come up with some hurtful plan to hurt you so what exactly is it you think I did as a child that could cause this much hatred for me?" she asks.

"Come on Brittany" I shake my head. "You came into my show where I was the central character and you took over. You became more popular and the fans just loved you. Then the minute our show ended; you did everything to make sure you were more successful than me" I explain. She actually went from this sweet shy innocent girl to a little diva and I just sat there and let everyone fawn over Brittany even though that was my show and about me.

"You're jealous of me, that's what this is?" she questions.

"I am not jealous and I never was. I just don't think you needed to put me down to put yourself up. We all know you became a star after our show so I get why you got that other role but the way you got it wasn't fair" I shrug. Brittany was a great little actress and I mean I was too but people just seemed to love Brittany so it's clear why they wanted her for the other show but the way it all worked out wasn't fair.

"When did I ever put you down Santana?" she asks. Man, she really is a great actress because she looks a little shocked right now.

"Don't play dumb with me because you and I both know you're a very smart person" I say seriously.

"I'm not going to lie Santana; I honestly have no clue where it all went wrong between us" she tells me. "One minute we were best friends and about to work on another show together and the next minute you disappear" she adds.

"Excuse me, you were the one to blame for our friendship ending" I point out. I really don't want to go over and over the same things with her but clearly, she can't see how awful she was to me.

"No, I really am not the one to blame" Brittany shakes her head. "You are the one who…"

"We need you ladies on set as soon as possible" one of the crew members tells us, interrupting Brittany.

"Ok" I smile at the crew member. I am so grateful they did interrupt because I just wasn't in the mood for rehashing everything with Brittany. I don't want my mind to be on the past but on the future and making sure this TV show is a hit.

"This isn't over" Brittany tells me as I get finished up and head towards the door to leave.

"Believe me, it's already over" I say before walking out and slamming the door behind me. Brittany can talk about the past all she wants but I don't want to relive it again so I won't be discussing it with her any further.

"Hey, are you ok Santana?" Mike asks me as I join him and some of the others on set. I'm guessing by the look on my face that I am showing just how angry I feel right now.

"I just got a little riled up by someone but I'm fine" I say while taking a deep breath to shake my anger away. Like I say I want to focus on work and not on the past so I won't let Brittany bother me right now especially when I'm at work and need to do my job.

"Ok" Mike smiles.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

I'm currently filming right now so all the cast is hard at work. Actually, not all of the cast, all of the cast with the exception of Brittany. Every time I look at her when we have a minute's break from filming, she is clowning around and making jokes. Plus, whenever we are filming, she can't seem to say her lines properly which just frustrates me so badly. I always come prepared and I always have done during any job I've had so it always pisses me off when people don't know their lines but it especially pisses me off when it's Brittany. She never used to do this when we worked on our previous show together so I've got a feeling it's deliberate just to wind me up even more.

"Cut!" the director yells loudly for what seems to be the 100th time already today. "We need to do that again because it's not working" he sighs.

"Ok" Brittany nods. We all then try the scene again but it ends with the director stopping us once again since Brittany can't be professional.

"For the love of God Brittany" I say in frustration. I think I said it a little too loudly because everyone went silent and started staring at me.

"I'm sorry but this scene is just so hard for me to get into the right headspace" she sighs.

"That's not my problem so quit letting your castmates down and focus. You're supposed to be a good actress so think of something to get into the mood of the character" I state.

"How about we all take 5" the director says with a sigh.

"Why should we all suffer because Brittany can't do her job properly" I say in disbelief. Why do we all need to take a break when it's Brittany's fault? We should have had this scene down over an hour ago and we haven't.

"I can do my job Santana; this scene is just a little tricky" Brittany replies while taking me over to the side out of everyone else's earshot.

"You're a professional Brittany so why don't you act like it. You shouldn't be struggling to get into character this much. I mean if you are then maybe it means this role just isn't for you" I say with a shrug. Maybe someone else will be more equipped to play this role.

"I am seriously going to lose it with you Santana" Brittany says starting to get annoyed.

"I'm just saying, maybe you aren't the right fit for this show so maybe you should do us all a favour and just quit" I shrug.

"I deserved this role so don't tell me that I am not good enough when clearly I am. I earned my right to be here and you know I can act so don't try and get me to leave because it won't happen. I've had plenty of casting directors tell me before I was never good enough so I'll be damned if I let you make me believe it too" she states.

"Touched a nerve, have I?" I ask with a smirk.

"Why do you get such a kick out of making me feel miserable?" Brittany asks with a sigh.

"Trust me, this is nothing compared to how you made me feel when we were kids" I say seriously.

"Unless you tell me what the hell you're talking about then I can't explain. You're all talk Santana but you never deliver" she replies.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I ask confused.

"You say I was horrible to you and I made you feel this and that but you don't actually say what happened. I still don't know what I've done to you. Evidently I've hurt you in some way but you still won't tell me how so either tell me or just drop the whole thing" Brittany shrugs.

"We're not doing this today and we're especially not doing this here so fix your shit and let's do this scene so we can all go home" I say before walking back to the others.

Eventually we get all of the scenes shot and get to go home. I really don't know what it is with Brittany because half the time she acts like she hasn't done anything wrong when clearly, she has. The other half of the time, she acknowledges something happened but won't admit that it's her fault. I think the only thing we can both agree on is that we did used to be best friends and something did happen between us for us to not talk anymore. I just wish she could care a little more about the situation because it's hard for me to get over things but yet she has no problem in carrying on with life regardless of the past. She doesn't seem remotely affected by the breakdown of our friendship whereas I struggle to move on.

* * *

Brittany's POV

I'm just hanging out with some of my fellow cast members, Quinn, Tina and Mercedes. We've all been given a 5-minute break just now while the writers rework a scene. The scene just wasn't working out and even though it's going to hold us back to rework it, we need this season to be amazing otherwise we get no season two therefore I lose my job, again. I'm just talking to my friends when I see Santana sitting alone so I walk over to her.

"Hey, I've invited some of the others out for some drinks tonight once we finish and you're more than welcome to join us" I smile.

"If you're going to be there then I won't be" Santana shrugs.

"Yeah, that's real mature Santana" I shake my head. She could have just said no thank you, she didn't need to say that.

"You know I'm never going to have a warm reply to your questions so I don't know why you continue to ask me things" she shrugs.

"I'm just trying to be nice Santana because I don't want you feeling left out because of me. Just because I'm hanging out with everyone doesn't mean you can't be their friend too or hang out with us. I know you hate me, it's very apparent, but don't let that stop you from mingling with others" I smile.

"Only you could make me feel this horrible" she glares at me.

"I beg your pardon" I say confused.

"You are highlighting the fact that I'm on my own and I'm not all friendly with the whole cast. Just because I am sitting alone does not mean I am lonely and antisocial. Furthermore, you do not need to delight in that fact either" she points out.

"I swear I wasn't trying to make you feel awful. I just don't want you to stay away from people because of me. Come and join us" I smile.

"I am not hanging out with the other girls because I was talking to Mike. It's not because I don't want to hang out with them or feel like I can't. Mike is just in the bathroom so that is why I am momentarily alone" Santana states.

"Ok well like I say, if you do want to come and join us now or even go for that drink later then you're more than welcome to" I smile. "Anyway, I'll leave you in peace" I add before walking away and heading back to my friends.

"I don't mean to be nosy but it is becoming obvious that there is a problem between the two of you so what happened?" Tina curiously asks.

"Santana and I actually worked together on a show from the ages of 8 until 10 but somehow we lost touch when our show got cancelled. From my side of the story, Santana just sort of vanished but she seems to think differently" I explain.

"Oh, ok" Quinn nods in understanding.

"She won't fully admit how things went down from her side back in the day so all I know is that I apparently hurt her in some way. If I did then I never meant to because as far as I was concerned, we were best friends one day and the next she pulled out of working with me again on another show" I say.

"Oh, were you going to work together again?" Mercedes asks surprised.

"Yeah after our show got cancelled, we both got auditions for another show. I got my part but Santana passed on the role and we've never seen each other since. To me I felt like she disappeared and didn't want to work with me but now that I think about it, I must have missed something that I did to hurt her and that is why she pulled out" I state.

"So, it's all a bit confusing then between the two of you?" Mercedes says.

"Yeah, I mean I know what happened from my point of view but like I say, she won't talk to me let alone explain the past so I really don't know what's going on. The main point is that she has an issue with me and isn't thrilled we're working together again" I say. "Please don't mention I told you all this to Santana though. There must be a reason why she won't talk about the past so I don't want her having to dodge questions from everyone else as well" I add. Clearly if she doesn't want to talk about it with me then I can't see her wanting to talk with anyone else about it.

"We won't mention it, don't worry" Tina smiles. "We just noticed the tension sometimes so we just didn't understand but we get it now" she adds.

"Ok, cool" I smile.

"Ok everyone, back to work" one of the producers says loudly so we can all hear. We all then take our places and get back to work.

XXX

We have all finally wrapped up filming for the day so most of the cast are leaving the set and heading back to our trailers. We're all still on for going out for some drinks so we'll head back to the trailers to freshen up and change before all meeting outside to get a few cabs to take us to our first party location of the night. I've just walked into my trailer where Santana already is getting ready to leave work.

"Hey Santana, come out with us" I say as I begin to get changed. "You really don't need to talk to me because there are plenty of us so you can just talk to everyone else" I add.

"Why do you want me to go out so badly?" she asks curiously.

"Because I don't want you missing opportunities because of me. We all work well together and have fun together so don't let me get in the way of that. I know you like most of the cast and they all like you so please don't hide away because I am the one that invited everyone out tonight" I say.

"Fine, I'll go if it gets you to shut up" she sighs.

"Cool" I smile. We then both get ready before heading to meet the others. "Santana is going to come guys" I tell them as we join the group.

"Excellent" Quinn smiles.

"Tonight wouldn't be the same without you" Artie tells her.

"Thanks guys" Santana smiles at our fellow cast members.

We all get into the waiting cabs and head to the first bar of the night. Even though Santana agreed to come out with us when I'm there, I made sure I would stay out of her way as much as possible so I made sure she wasn't in the same cab as me. As soon as we arrive at our location, we head inside and I get us all some drinks. It was my idea to go out tonight so I bought the first round of drinks for everyone.

"Thank you all for coming tonight and here's to a good night" I say as I raise my glass in the air as I toast to us all.

"Exactly" Quinn smiles and then we all clink our glasses together.

"We've never really hung out altogether outside of work so tonight is going to be fun" Tina says excitedly. "It'll give us a chance to get all of the dirty gossip on each other" she teases. Any other time we have all been together has been about work or promoting the show so we've never had a chance to let our hair down and really get to know each other.

"I think I'll kick off this getting to know each other session by asking everyone something personal" Mercedes states. "Who of us are all in relationships?" she asks as she looks around our table smirking.

"Since you asked the question Mercedes then you tell us about yourself" Santana says while smirking back at our friend.

"I agree with Santana, you asked so you kick us off" I state. Santana looks at me and glares for some reason. "What?" I ask confused.

"You don't need to agree with me right off the bat" Santana tells me.

"I wasn't agreeing with you to get on your good side or to make friends, I was agreeing because I think it was a good idea" I say before rolling my eyes and looking away. I just don't want tonight spoiled by childishness like this.

"Come on Mercedes, spill" Mike says looking at Mercedes.

"Ok fine, I'll start" Mercedes laughs. "I am single so there really isn't much to tell" she adds with a shrug.

"I too am actually single so there isn't much for me to say either" Tina states.

"I am actually dating someone at the moment but it's not that serious yet" Rachel replies when it's her turn.

The rest of my friends all go around the table and explain their current situation at the moment. I'm hoping everyone has either forgotten about me or think I've already gone and I don't need to answer. Santana has just finished telling us about how she's single and when I think I've gotten away with things; Santana turns to me and loudly asks if I'm in a relationship which causes everyone to turn around and look at me curiously.

"Anyone on the horizon Brittany?" Quinn asks.

"I was dating for a while but it was going nowhere so I am officially single and off the market at the moment" I shrug. "I'm not really looking for anyone right now, I just want to do me for a while and focus on my career" I add.

"To be fair, with the hours we are all working then there really isn't a whole lot of time for relationships" Tina points out.

"Exactly" I nod in agreement. "It would really need to take someone special for me to be able to put all my effort and energy into someone when we're so busy at work."

"Things are a little boring guys, why don't we play a drinking game or something" Artie states.

"I'm up for that but I draw the line at spin the bottle" Santana states. "I kiss enough of you during working hours, I don't need to do it outside of work" she laughs.

"I agree" I laugh too. Both my character and Santana's character are popular so we're never short of attention on screen so I don't really want to be kissing my friends outside of work. It's quite funny though how much attention my character gets compared to the little enjoyment in my personal life at the moment.

"Never have I ever could be fun" Tina suggests.

"I feel like everyone plays that for drinking games. Surely between all of us we could do something really cool" Quinn states.

After agreeing on a drinking game we are all happy with and can play, we get started. We continue playing for a while before some of us need the bathroom and others are beginning to get bored of it. We stopped the game and ordered some more drinks before some of us hit the dance floor. As the night goes on, we end up as two groups of people. One group is getting tipsier by the second and struggling to keep themselves upright and the other group are still quite sober so are getting bored. I would say I am in the latter group because I am still well aware of my surroundings and what's going on. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for my former best friend who is three sheets to the wind.

"Maybe we should all be calling it a night" I say as I look around the table. Tina is half asleep leaning on the table while Finn is singing at the top of his lungs and it doesn't sound good. Mercedes and Quinn are trying to keep Rachel from wandering off like she has done numerous times already.

"I really think we should" Mike agrees as he pulls Puck away from trying to chat to yet another girl this evening. "Sam has just lifted his shirt and let a bunch of girls fondle his abs" he sighs.

"I'm on it" Artie says while pulling Sam away.

"I think I'm going to get another drink" Santana slurs as she gets up from the table. She stumbles a little and thankfully I'm there to catch her before she completely loses balance and ends up on the floor.

"I don't think you should have another drink Santana" I say while shaking my head at my former best friend.

"I don't need to do anything you tell me. You're not my friend anymore. In fact, you are nothing to me" Santana glares at me.

"I'm just looking out for you" I explain.

"I don't believe that because you never looked out for me. All you have ever cared about is yourself. You ruined my life Brittany Pierce and I will never forgive you" Santana slurs.

"I think that's a bit extreme Santana" I sigh. We both have different views on what happened all those years ago but I think she's exaggerating with that comment. It maybe wasn't the best situation we were in but she can't say we've ruined each other's lives.

"You meant everything to me and in the click of your fingers I was nothing to you" she shrugs.

"You were my best friend Santana and even though we were still very young, you meant more to me than anyone" I say. We were only 10 when we went our separate ways but Santana and I were very mature for 10 due to our upbringing in the industry so I was closer to her than I was to my sisters.

"I don't believe you" Santana states while tiredly leaning her head against my shoulder.

"I know you don't but it's the truth. We didn't just work together when we were younger, you are the one who knew all my secrets that no one else knew" I say honestly. Ok so they weren't like deep secrets since we were only 10 but she was the closest person I had. I think if we hadn't of parted ways when we did then we would be disgustingly close right now, in a good way of course.

"Why couldn't you not just feel the same way about me" Santana sighs.

"What do you mean?" I ask confused.

"You were my best friend and you were the only person who knew how hard the acting business was so I needed someone in my corner and you just gave up one day and left me. If I didn't know any better then I would compare the feeling to a bad breakup" she sighs again.

"We have conflicting opinions on how we parted but you were my best friend too Santana. I was in your corner and you really helped me through the tough times" I say.

Growing up it is nice to have a best friend but growing up in this industry having a best friend feels more special because they know how hard is it and will always support you. Santana was that for me until we separated. I realise now that that person for support should be your significant other but at that age, it's good to have a little friend like that. I don't need a best friend nowadays because I've grown up but I can see why it hurt us both when we were younger because acting and being a child at the same time was hard and really lonely. I mean whatever Santana believes to have happened, we did both lose our best friends at 10 so I can see why there is hurt still there because growing up after 10 was hard too. I might have felt better about myself during those awkward school years if I did have someone who felt the same so it must have been tough for the both of us regardless of who is to blame.

"Ok, there are cabs outside so let's go" Quinn states. Those of us who are sober, all then help the less sober individuals and we make our way outside and into the cabs. We all then get ourselves safely home.

"Think about what I said Brittany" Santana tells me before exiting the cab and stumbling along the path to the front door. I make sure she gets inside before letting the cab driver take me home. I'm guessing what Santana meant was to think about her saying I ruined her life.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

The fun and alcohol filled night myself and the rest of the cast had is long behind us now. We were all suffering due to our hangovers the next day, some more than others – Santana, but we managed to power through work. It wasn't easy but we managed because we knew we couldn't let the crew down. Even though it was a fun night, nothing changed between Santana and I after it. I had expected it to go one of two ways where either we had it out with each other and put the issue to bed or we would decide that it was a fun night so to leave the past in the past and focus on a fun future as friends. However, it went neither of those. We just ended up back to where we were which is not hearing each other out and definitely not starting afresh as friends.

I'm currently at work right now and things seem to be going quite smoothly. We've got a lot of work done already which is great and we're all still energised to keep the pace going. We've just finished filming a scene with Santana doing a musical number in it and she was awesome. She used to sing when we were kids a little bit so I knew she was good but this was different. She's grown up now and her adult voice is just incredible. She hit all the right notes the first time and honestly it just blew me away. I'm not really a singer myself so luckily my character isn't either but it doesn't mean I can't appreciate a good voice when I hear it.

"Wow your voice is amazing" I say in awe of Santana as the scene ends.

"I know" she shrugs at me.

"You have a uniqueness about your voice and it's just magical, honestly" I smile.

"Ok, settle down" Santana rolls her eyes at me. "I know I'm good at singing but that was just too much and you're even making me cringe for you" she adds.

"Ok, sorry" I apologise. Maybe I did go too far with the magical comment but honestly, she was amazing and I could listen to her voice all day long.

"Those were some nice moves Brittany" Mike tells me as some of the others walk over to Santana and I.

"Thank you" I smile. "I've been dancing professionally since I was 3" I tell everyone jokingly.

"Really, because it doesn't show" Santana says laughing.

"I was making a joke" I frown. "I have been dancing for a long time though" I add sadly. I know I'm not a professional but I always thought I was good.

"I don't know what Santana is talking about because you're great" Mercedes tells me.

"I suppose you weren't awful" Santana sighs.

"How hard was that for you to say?" I tease.

"All I am saying is that I have seen better. Maybe you weren't terrible but you weren't out of this world amazingly phenomenal either" Santana shrugs.

"Ok" I nod.

After working for a while more, we all get a short break to get ourselves some lunch. Santana was filming a few more scenes than myself today so she decided to go back to the trailer for a little lie down instead of joining the rest of us at catering. I know she was tired but I didn't like the thought of her not eating to refuel for a hectic afternoon filming schedule so I decided to cut my lunch short and take some food to Santana. When I walk into the trailer, Santana is lying on the couch, typing ferociously on her phone.

"Hey" I say as I close the door behind me.

"Hi" Santana replies distractedly. After a second though, she puts her phone down and sits up on the couch.

"Lunch for you" I say while handing Santana a paper plate with some food on it while also sitting a cup of coffee in front of her.

"I don't like it" Santana shrugs at me.

"You haven't even tried any of the food yet" I say with a chuckle.

"I can just tell from what's on the plate that I won't like it" she replies.

"You used to like it because this is what you always ate when we were younger and working together" I shrug.

"Yeah well I'm not 10 anymore and we're not friends so I don't want this" she states while pushing the plate towards me.

"We have a hectic day ahead of us so you need to refuel so you have lots of energy and you don't get sick" I point out.

"I will eat something but it won't be something you've given me. You could have poisoned it on the way over here so I won't take my chances" she smartly replies.

"I wouldn't do that, don't be silly" I say while rolling my eyes.

"I wouldn't put it past you to do something like that Brittany. You probably got the food from catering and then snuck something weird into the food without anyone knowing and then brought it to me. You're hoping I eat the food and get really bad food poisoning or something that means I need to pull out of the remainder of the production. By any luck, you're hoping I will be ill for so long that I need to quit the TV show altogether and then get recast" Santana details.

"Don't you think that's a little bit of a contrived plan?" I ask with a sigh. I'm really not going to go to those kinds of lengths. Believe it or not, I was just trying to be kind.

"I honestly don't know what you're capable of anymore" Santana shrugs.

"I think you and I need to talk because I can't go on like this anymore" I say while sighing again.

"If working with me is too much for you to handle then you know where the door is. You don't have to work with me if you don't want to, you can just leave" she points out.

"I am not quitting just to make you feel better. Say whatever you want about me but these last few years have been really hard for me so I'm not about to give up this perfect opportunity when it's literally my dream job" I say seriously. I did not go through all the pain and rejection just to quit when I had quite a good role to delve into.

"This was my dream job until I realised you were working here too" Santana states. "I'm not quitting either though for you because I won't give you the satisfaction of driving me out of here" she adds.

"I don't want you to quit Santana. I actually really like working with you because you're a great actress. Despite how hard you are making things between us; I actually want to be here and continue to work with you" I explain.

"That's surprising. I thought you would be in your element knowing how hard this is for me" she replies.

"Seriously Santana, you and I need to have a good talk to go through our differences because we are going around in circles. You say I have done something to hurt you and won't ever forgive me but, in my opinion, you disappeared one day like I meant nothing to you so someone is in the wrong" I state. I know I'm not but clearly something else is going on according to Santana so maybe neither of us know the full story yet.

"Fine but not right now when we're in the middle of filming" Santana sighs.

"We've still got some time on our break left so why don't we just iron this out here and now, once and for all" I shrug.

"I just don't want it to make me distracted when we do go back to filming" Santana points out. It might take our heads out of the game when we are supposed to be focusing on our work but it's already a fucked-up situation so I don't see why it matters.

"I get that but we're already both distracted by this whole charade so let's just clear the air now and get it over with" I say.

"Fine" Santana nods.

"I'll start then" I say and Santana nods again. "Basically, we were best friends and we both auditioned for the new show where we could work together, right?" I start.

"Exactly" Santana replies. "However, you got your role and I didn't get anywhere because of you" she adds.

"I'm sorry, what?" I ask confused. How is it my fault?

"You stole my job Brittany and not only that but you screwed it all up for me" Santana states.

"What job?" I ask curiously. What exactly are we talking about now?

"On the show we were supposed to work together on. You robbed me of that opportunity to get another role" she states.

"No, I didn't" I say defensively. I didn't do anything of the sort because I wanted us to work together again.

"I would have been happy for you if it was the same role and you had just been the better actress but no, you went one step further to get a job and screwed me over in the process" she shakes her head.

"I've never screwed you over Santana. I would never do that to you" I assure her. I really wouldn't know how to do that at 10 years old because like I say, I really wasn't that smart.

"It wasn't enough for you to get the lead part but you made sure I never even got a supporting role on that show" Santana tells me angrily.

"Santana you passed on the role and to work with me again, how is that my fault?" I ask.

"You are the reason I didn't get the part" Santana sighs in frustration.

"No, you didn't get the part because you didn't want it. You told the casting people you didn't want the role anymore. It was either because you didn't want to work with me again or because you got a better offer" I explain.

"What the hell are you smoking Brittany?" Santana asks in disbelief. "That role was a great opportunity for me so I wanted it more than anything. You are the one that said you refused to work with me again" she adds.

"Uh…no I didn't" I shake my head. "I got my role and then was told you passed on yours" I state.

"No, you got your role and I didn't get mine because you were the star and wouldn't work with me if they cast me so they passed on me" Santana replies.

"I think we have both been lied to Santana" I sigh. Everything is starting to make sense now.

"Or you're the one who is lying" Santana shrugs.

"Ladies, what is going on, we need you on set now" one of the assistants tells us, interrupting our conversation as he pokes his head in the door of the trailer.

"We'll finish this later" I say and then we both leave. It's so frustrating that we keep getting interrupted just as we're about to fix our shit but I suppose work is the priority now.

* * *

Let me know what you think.


	3. You Were My Best Friend

Chapter 3: You Were My Best Friend

Brittany's POV

As soon as we wrapped up filming today, I pulled Santana aside and asked her if we could go somewhere to talk. Our conversation about the past was cut short earlier and we haven't been able to pick it up since so I just want us to try again to talk and finally get to the bottom of everything. We've just got back to my trailer now so we're just about to have that talk. Santana is just changing into some other clothes right now and I'm getting us some water from the fridge.

"Ok, let's do this" Santana says with a sigh as she comes over and sits down next to me.

"Ok" I nod. "Do you want to tell me your side of the story?" I ask.

"Fine" Santana states. "Basically, what happened was that you got your role and then decided you didn't want to work with me anymore so you made sure I didn't get cast" she adds.

"Absolutely not" I shake my head. "From my point of view, I was told you didn't take on the new role because you passed on it" I state.

"No that's not what happened, god why are you trying to cover this up Brittany. I desperately wanted the part because I wanted to work with my best friend again but I didn't get it. They said you wouldn't do the show if I did it and they needed you more so they let me go" Santana states.

"That is not true Santana" I say in disbelief. "The only thing I told them was how good you were for the other part and that we should be in it together. You meant so much to me so there is no way I didn't want to work with you again" I say honestly.

"That's bullshit Brittany" Santana shakes her head. "I'll tell you right now how everything went down" she states.

"Fine" I nod.

"Basically, this whole thing all started when my mom and I went to the set and demanded to speak to the casting director" Santana replies.

…

_"I know we weren't called to come in today but Santana was just dying to know about the part. Have you made a decision yet?" my mom asks the casting director. _

_"I'm sorry, Santana didn't get the part" the man replies in the least sympathetic tone he could have. _

_"What do you mean I didn't get the part?" I ask outraged. Brittany and I worked so hard for this so this isn't fair. _

_"Like I say, you didn't get it" he shrugs. _

_"What about Brittany?" my mom asks curiously. _

_"Brittany is our lead role but I'm afraid I can't discuss that much at all with you" he shrugs again. _

_"Wait a minute, Brittany got cast and I didn't?" I say sadly. _

_"Yes, and you have Brittany to thank for that" the man tells us. _

_"Excuse me?" my mom asks confused. _

_"Brittany was perfect for the role and your role Santana was more of a minor role" he states. _

_"That doesn't explain what you just said so what do you mean we have Brittany to thank for Santana not getting cast?" my mom asks angrily. You win some and you lose some all the time so my mom isn't really one to get angry when I don't get cast but she is definitely getting annoyed here. _

_"Brittany wasn't willing to work with you Santana" the man shrugs. _

_"She what?" I say sadly, tears threatening to roll down my face. _

_"She said she wouldn't accept the part unless we made sure you didn't get the role. Brittany just blew us away at her audition so we needed her more since she was auditioning for the starring role" the man shrugs again. _

_"No, Brittany wouldn't do that to me" I shake my head in disbelief. _

_"She did and I know it sucks you didn't get the part but Brittany was just the better actress" he tells us. "Anyway, I need to go but I'm sure you'll get a role sometime and if not you're still young so there's always school to go back to" he says and then leaves._

…

"Hold on a minute, they said I wouldn't work with you again so that's why you didn't get the part?" I ask shocked.

"Yeah" Santana nods. "They needed you more than they needed me so you got cast and I didn't. You apparently went out of your way to demand I got no role in that show."

"Santana you can't honestly believe I would do that" I shake my head. "Why would I not want to work with you?" I ask.

"I'm not making this up Brittany. I never got cast because of you so that is why I am so mad at you and so hurt by everything" she tells me.

"Santana, I promise you that I didn't do that. I got called to come in one day and they told me I got the part. I was so excited because I knew if I got it then you must have too. However, when I asked about you, they told me you passed on the role to take a different role" I explain.

"You were my best friend, why would I pass on the opportunity to work with you. I mean even if I did get offered another role, I didn't, but even I did, it would never be better than working with my best friend" Santana tells me.

"So, you didn't pass then and did want to work with me again?" I ask.

"Of course I didn't pass on working with you again" Santana assures me.

"Ok well that's what I got told" I sigh.

"Well I was told you didn't want to work with me again. I am so confused right now because nothing makes sense" Santana states.

"Yeah something isn't quite right about the whole situation" I nod in agreement. It doesn't make sense why we would both be lied to because I don't see what the problem would be with us working again. Why wouldn't the crew want that?

"I should leave now; I've got a few work things to wrap up before heading home" Santana states while standing up from her seat.

"Oh, ok" I say surprised. I was really hoping we could talk a little more about everything and hopefully clear the air. Not only would it be good to move on for the sake of this show and working together but I'd also like to think we could get to a place where we could be friends again.

"Bye Brittany" Santana says as she grabs her things.

"See you tomorrow I guess" I say. Santana nods and then heads out of the trailer.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

I'm just in my trailer right now, waiting to be called on set for my next scene. I had a few scenes this morning but the episode we're working on at the moment doesn't centre around my character all that much so I've had some spare time today. Santana is sort of the opposite to me today because all she has had is scenes so I haven't really seen her much at all. I really do hope I see her at some point though because things seem to still be a bit weird. She left yesterday after our conversation and I don't think she fully trusts me yet. I guess I'm a little hesitant as well about whether I believe her side of the story.

"Hey" I say as Santana walks into the trailer.

"Hi" Santana says quietly.

"Lunch break is it?" I ask.

"It is and also guess who is finally getting out of here and getting their own trailer back" Santana says excitedly as she begins packing up some of her stuff.

"You I guess" I shrug.

"Correct" she nods.

"Do you need some help to get your stuff together?" I ask sadly.

"No, it's ok" Santana replies.

I'm not too happy about the fact we won't share a trailer anymore. Even though things weren't the best between us, there was still some comfort in sharing this space with her. Things are going to be even more distant between us now because we'll only ever see each other on set. I just wish there was something I could do to fix this situation we're in because if this was 12 years ago and we were working together again, we would be having so much fun right now.

"Well I think that's me got all of my things so I'll get going now" Santana says as she walks towards the door.

"I'm going to miss sharing a trailer with you" I tell her.

"Really?" she asks. "We barely talked or spent any time together in here. It was just the odd 5 minutes on a break or something" she adds.

"I'll still miss it though" I shrug.

"It's probably for the best that I get back to my own trailer though. Our schedules on set aren't quite the same as each other so it'll be better to have our own space and get some peace and quiet on our own when we both need it" Santana replies.

"And you won't have to talk to me again" I say.

"I wish we could be friendlier but I'm not sure that we can be" she admits.

"Do you really not believe me about what happened?" I question.

"I just don't know anymore about what I believe" Santana sighs. "Something just doesn't seem to add up with it all so I'm still confused. Plus, we haven't seen one another in 12 years so how can I be sure we're still the same people we used to be and someone isn't withholding the truth" she adds.

"I had a feeling you still didn't believe anything so I'm going to prove it to you now that I wouldn't ever do anything to hurt you" I say.

"Prove it how?" she asks confused.

"Just wait and see" I say. "If you give me 5 minutes until I run to my car and then I'll show you what I mean."

"Ok" she nods.

"Please don't leave Santana, I will be right back so please don't sneak away when I'm gone" I reply.

"I won't, I'll wait right here" Santana says while moving away from the door and taking a seat on the couch.

"I'll be back soon" I say before leaving and running to my car. As soon as I get the box out of the trunk, I run back to my trailer. "Good, you're still here" I say out of breath.

"I said I would be" Santana shrugs.

"I know but you're clearly still pissed at me so I wasn't sure if you really meant it" I reply. "Anyway, in this box is proof that you meant a lot to me and you were my best friend so hopefully it helps you see that what I've told you is the truth" I say.

"Ok" Santana looks at me confused.

"Look inside this box" I state while sitting the box in front of Santana.

"What?" she asks, still confused about how a box proves what I'm saying.

"Open this box and look inside and then tell me if you really don't believe you meant a lot to me" I say.

"Ok" Santana nods before lifting the lid of the box. She then looks through the different items inside. "Cinema tickets?" she says confused.

"Yeah" I nod. "They're from the first movie we ever saw together as kids" I add. It was a good day but our moms did insist on coming with us though so it wasn't as good as it could have been.

"Oh yeah, it was this movie" she smiles.

"This teddy bear here is from when you won it in a raffle and you gave it to me" I say, beginning to explain some of the items inside the box. "The CD in here was actually yours that you let me borrow and I never got a chance to give you it back before we lost touch. The bracelet is what you gave me for my 9th birthday and the locket with our picture in it was a gift you gave me for my 10th birthday. The hairband is…"

"One of mine that I let you borrow to tie your hair up with on a hot day because you would always be losing yours" Santana says with a smile, finishing off my sentence.

"Yeah exactly, you remember?" I ask.

"Of course I remember, you were my best friend Brittany" she replies.

"Do you know what this is?" I ask as I hold up a rectangular photo album.

"Yeah we made the album together and put every picture of the two of us in it that we could find. Only pictures of you and me could be in the album and we wrote 'best friends forever' on the front" Santana says as she takes the album from me. "The front cover looks a little faded now but at least the photos are still intact" she says as she looks through it.

"Yeah" I smile. "Hey, do you remember the scrapbook we made together of everything we wanted to achieve when we were older?"

"I do" Santana smiles. "We put everything in it from things we wanted to achieve personally and professionally" she adds.

"I have no idea where that went because I don't have it in this box or anywhere at home" I say sadly. I really wish I kept it because Santana and I spent a lot of time on it and it meant a lot to both of us.

"I know where it is. I've got it at home" she tells me.

"Really?" I say surprised.

"Yeah" Santana nods. "Things didn't end too well between us but it didn't mean I didn't want to keep the book. Also, I still wanted to achieve some of those things so I needed that book to remind me of what I wanted to work towards" she explains.

"Maybe you could bring it to work one day and let me have a look through it because I'd love to see what we put in that book" I say.

"I'll definitely bring it in one day" Santana smiles.

"Good" I smile back.

Once we're finished going through everything in the box, we repack it again. Santana then grabs her things again to get ready to head back to her trailer. Going through the memory box took up quite a bit of time on her lunchbreak so she needs to get her stuff back to her trailer before she gets something to eat and before she needs to get back on set. I also need to get myself lunch as well before I'm needed to shoot my next scenes.

"I'll be leaving now but thanks for showing me all that stuff from our childhood" Santana says.

"Do you understand a bit more about what happened now and are you beginning to see I'm not such as bad a person as you thought?" I ask.

"I think so" she nods.

"I mean why would I keep all of this stuff if I didn't still care about you?" I question.

"I am sorry for not realising sooner" Santana apologises. "I do get it now and I do believe you. I still don't understand though why we were both lied to" she says in confusion.

"Maybe they didn't want to tell us the real reason as to why they didn't want us working together again so came up with the lame excuse that they did" I say.

"I can't think of any reason why they wouldn't want us to work together" Santana states. "Unless it was something personal about me and knew if they told us the real reason you would quit so they lied to keep you in the show" she points out.

"That is possible but I don't understand what they could personally have against you" I shrug.

"It wouldn't be the first time in my young career that I didn't get a part because I wasn't white enough so it's a possibility it was that" she nods. "Honestly though, you didn't say anything negative about me so you could get the show all to yourself?" she asks.

"I swear on my life I didn't" I say seriously.

"Maybe it was racism then because I don't know what else it could be" she says. "Apart from us looking different, you and I were practically the same. We had the same grades at school, the same acting ability, we're the same age, like I don't know what would make them want you and not me other than my appearance."

"I really don't want to believe that but maybe you're right" I sigh. It would kill me if that was the reason I couldn't work with my best friend. People are just so awful sometimes and no 10-year-old deserved that if that was the reason.

"I should go now actually" Santana says while checking her watch.

"Yeah, I need to get myself organised too" I nod.

"Bye" Santana smiles.

"Bye" I reply and then Santana leaves my trailer.

* * *

Santana's POV

I've just got up and out of bed but I am so tired today, it's ridiculous. We were all working really late on set last night so I've barely had any sleep and I need to be back in work this morning. Also, I'm in a really bad mood these days because I think I might have messed things up between Brittany and I. I know things were already bad but after everything she has told me I now believe her version of events. I reacted so badly though before I found out and treated her like shit so I doubt we can actually be friends now because of me.

I am just so mad at myself for everything that's happened between Brittany and I the last few weeks. We were best friends and she meant a lot to me so how couldn't I believe her? I really suck as a person to think that she could hurt me like that. Brittany has never hurt me before and she would do anything for me so I don't know why I thought so badly of her. I guess we're both a little to blame for not getting in touch for all these years but the least I could have done was given her the benefit of the doubt.

"Morning" my mom says as I walk into the kitchen.

"Yeah, morning" I say with a groan.

"Were you out with your friends last night, we didn't hear you come home?" my dad asks me.

"I wasn't out, I was at work and they're not my friends, they're my colleagues" I say. I guess we are all friendly but I'm not sure we're close enough to say we're actually friends now. I think we have only hung out a handful of times after work so I'm not sure we're close friends yet. We only really see one another during work.

"You look a little rough, I thought maybe you had a few drinks" my dad replies.

"I'm not hungover, I'm just pissed and angry" I say.

"About what sweetheart?" my mom asks me concerned as she places some coffee down in front of me.

"Thanks" I say gratefully for the coffee. "I'm pissed about this whole situation with Brittany. I didn't believe her and I judged her a little bit when the bottom line is, she did nothing wrong" I say with a sigh. "She did nothing to hurt me and I treated her like total crap."

"I am sure if you talk to her she might understand because you were both lied to so you were both in the same circumstances. She can't blame you for everything when it's not your fault and not hers either" my mom says.

"Your mom is right Santana" my dad agrees.

"I'm just not sure she'll want to talk to me anymore" I sigh.

"From what I remember, Brittany wasn't like that as a person. She wouldn't hold grudges and she was happy to move on from any bad situations" my mom says.

"You knew 10-year-old Brittany. She's an adult now so she could have changed. Plus, we're not talking about childish things like stealing each other's toys or something. I treated her really badly and said some not nice things to her" I explain.

"Well even so, you still should talk to her at least and see if you can sort things out between you both. You won't know one way or another if you don't try to do something" my mom replies.

"I guess" I nod.

"Anyway, your dad and I need to get ready for work and so do you" my mom states. "Hurry up and finish your coffee and get to work."

"Yes mom, I'm not a child" I groan. I hate it when she tells me what to do like that because I am a grownup now with a grownup job so I don't need my mom managing my time for me when I'm very good at time management myself.

"She's just looking out for you Santana, no need to be rude to your mom" my dad tells me.

"I'm sorry" I apologise before leaving the kitchen and heading upstairs to get ready for work.

Once I'm all ready to go, I head out the door and into my car to make my way to work. As soon as I arrive, there's an assistant waiting for me to tell me where I need to be first this morning. I was really hoping to have a quick word with Brittany before I got started work but it doesn't look like that is going to happen. I could speak to her on set when I first see her but I'm not sure it's a conversation I want in front of everyone so it's probably best to have it in private.

Work is pretty hectic for the next few hours so even though I finally see Brittany, I don't get a chance to talk to her. We have been in the same scenes but they've all been scenes with more than just the two of us so it never felt like the right moment to talk to her about what I want to say. I've just got a 15-minute break right now to get something to eat to refuel before the next rush of work but I'm not really that hungry so instead of eating I'm going to Brittany's trailer to see her, hoping to talk to her.

"Santana, hi" Brittany says surprised as she opens the door once I knock on it.

"Hey" I say with a small smile.

"Do you need something?" she asks me.

"Yeah, you got a minute to chat?" I ask.

"I actually don't" she tells me. "I was just about to grab my jacket and head to the set. I've got quite a packed day today. I'm in a lot of scenes so I don't have time to hang around" she adds.

"I'm in a lot of the same scenes but I don't really want to talk with everyone around. I wanted us to talk privately" I say.

"I'm sorry but I can't right now, I need to go" Brittany says and then leaves her trailer.

Ok, yeah, she is definitely pissed at me. I knew this was going to happen. I mean before even if she was super busy, she still made the effort to talk to me so now I know she is definitely not liking me at the moment. I just don't know how I'm going to get a chance to explain and apologise if she won't even be alone with me for 5 minutes. Like I said, we are in the same scenes today so I will see her but if she can't even talk alone for a few minutes in her trailer then I highly doubt she'll give me a chance in between takes.

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It's another day at work and another day of not talking to Brittany. Work has been really busy again so I knew we wouldn't get a lot of time to talk but she doesn't even give me the slightest chance to say sorry. Even when we get the odd 5-minute break, I don't even get the opportunity to talk to her because Brittany is always talking to the crew about how we can make the scenes better. I mean I like that she cares about our work and wants to make the show a success, but it's not helpful to me when I just want a quick word with her. Even between takes, she makes sure she isn't standing near me and stands with the other actors so she doesn't need to talk to me which I don't like.

All the cast and crew are finally getting half an hour for lunch now so I've decided I'm just going to pull Brittany aside and talk to her. I don't care if she's sitting with someone else or if she's eating, I am talking to her because we need to sort this out. As soon as I collect my plate of food for lunch, I put it down on one of the tables and walk over to Brittany who has just came out of the bathroom. I gently take her arm and pull her to the side out of everyone else's earshot.

"Uh…what are you doing?" Brittany asks me confused.

"Brittany, why are you avoiding me?" I ask annoyed, getting straight to the point. I know what I did was wrong but Brittany didn't avoid me when we first met after 12 years so why would she now? There is no difference between right now and a few weeks ago in terms of our relationship so why would she suddenly decide to avoid me after I understood the situation.

"I'm not avoiding you" she says, looking at me confused again.

"Yeah you kinda are" I state.

"I'm really not, I mean why would I avoid you?" she replies.

"Any time I try to talk to you, you're either too busy or you're with someone else so I never get the chance to see you alone for a second" I say.

"Things are just crazy at the moment between work and my personal life so I've just not had a whole lot of spare time to talk to you or anyone really" Brittany explains.

"No that's where you're wrong because I've seen you talking to the crew or the other actors so you have had the odd few minutes here and there" I state. "If you have a chance to dance around with Mike or laugh with Artie then you've had the chance to talk to me for 2 minutes" I point out.

"Honestly, I'm not avoiding you. I wasn't doing anything on purpose so please don't think that" Brittany smiles.

"Ok well if you're not avoiding me then you can talk to me just now" I tell her.

"I did kinda want to get some lunch Santana" she states.

"There we go, that's what I'm talking about" I shake my head in disbelief.

"That is not me avoiding you, like I just want something to eat. I mean it's not absurd to think someone wants to eat lunch on a lunch break" Brittany explains.

"I'm not asking you to spend the whole half an hour with me, just a minute to hear me out" I reply.

"Ok well let me grab a sandwich and then I'll come over to your table" she says.

"Ok but you better come over there" I say before walking back over to my table.

I begin eating my lunch and after a few minutes, Brittany comes over to the table and sits down. We don't really say anything to begin with and just continue eating. I'm not really saying anything because I'm nervous now and I don't know where to start since this is my only opportunity to put things right. I think Brittany isn't saying anything because she's either hungry or she's waiting on me starting the conversation since it is me that wanted to talk.

"Brittany, I'm sorry" I start.

"For what?" she asks me puzzled.

"For everything that I've said or done this last month. I didn't believe you and I made you feel horrible so I'm sorry for not being kind to you" I apologise.

"It's ok, honestly" she smiles.

"It's not though because you were my best friend as kids and you meant a lot to me so I shouldn't have doubted you the way I did" I explain.

"We've grown up now and we are in this kind of industry so I don't blame you for thinking how you did. Let's just move on from it" Brittany says.

"Ok" I nod.

"Anyway, I should go now and get ready for my next scenes" Brittany says as she stands up from the table.

"But lunch isn't over yet and you haven't finished eating either" I point out.

"I know but I want to stay one step ahead of the game" she shrugs before taking off.

I am still not getting a good feeling about this situation. Brittany says it's fine but yet she can't manage to stay at the same table as me and eat her lunch. She clearly still has some issues with me or our situation which I don't like. I'm kinda pissed off now that I don't really want to try and make things better with her anymore. I have apologised and I've admitted I was wrong which took guts so if she doesn't want to accept it then that's her problem now, not mine. I've tried so if we are meant to be on friendlier terms again then it's on her now because there's not much more I can do.

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Today is a rare day for me and my colleagues at work because we got to finish work early yesterday and have the whole day off today. It's been good to have some time off to rest today but I'm also not looking forward to the rest of the day because I'm alone and a little bored. As much as work can be really stressful and tiring sometimes, I definitely prefer being kept busy than sitting alone with my thoughts. My family and close friends are all working today so I can't hang out with them. That's just my typical luck though to be busy when my friends are off and be off when my friends are busy.

I'm just lounging on the couch watching TV while simultaneously looking online with my laptop when my phone pings with a text. I sit the laptop down next to me and reach forward to pick up my cell. I unlock the screen and open up the text message to see who it is.

From unknown: do you want to meet up today?

To unknown: why?

I have no idea who this could be but I'm hoping once they tell me why they want to meet up with me then I might have a rough idea of who it is. As far as I'm aware I haven't given my number to anyone who hasn't given me their number in return so this is slightly puzzling. Also, I'm sure if it was a friend or family member then they'd have given me their new number so it can't be someone I'm close with.

From unknown: I thought we could maybe get coffee and talk. So, do you want to?

To unknown: that all depends on who you are?

From unknown: what?

To unknown: who are you? I don't know this number so who am I speaking to?

From unknown: sorry lol. It's Brittany

Wow, I didn't expect the person to say that. Out of all the people to be texting me, I thought she would have been the last one. Things have been a little weird at work lately so this really is surprise that she's reaching out to me when I thought she didn't want to associate herself with me. Before I even get a chance to reply, I get another incoming text.

From unknown: Pierce. Brittany Pierce

To Brittany: I only know one Brittany so I figured it was Pierce when you said the first time.

From Brittany: ok cool. Shall we meet for coffee then?

This really is weird because I didn't think Brittany really wanted to be around me at the moment. I'm certain she has been avoiding me ever since we talked about the past. As much as she claims she isn't avoiding me and she's just been busy, I know she's lying. Honestly if you have time to lark around on set with colleagues then you have a minute or two to step aside and clear the air with me. Unless this is her finally moving on and beginning to be comfortable around me again. I honestly don't know what it is but I guess I should find out what's going on.

From Brittany: are you still there

To Brittany: yes, sorry. I got distracted

From Brittany: coffee then? I'll pay : )

To Brittany: I suppose we could grab coffee together

From Brittany: awesome. Where and when?

To Brittany: the usual place near the set in about an hour

From Brittany: that's perfect, see you soon

As soon as we stop texting, I run upstairs and take a shower. I then get dressed and dry my hair before putting my makeup on. Once I'm satisfied with how I look, I grab my purse and keys and head out the door. It took me a little longer than expected to get ready but I'm hoping Brittany will be ok if I'm 5 minutes late. The minute I do arrive, I park up outside and head straight inside where Brittany is waiting for me.

"Hey, how are you?" Brittany asks as I sit down across from her at the table.

"I'm good, how are you?" I reply.

"Yeah, I'm good too" Brittany smiles. "Shall we order some coffee then?" she asks.

"Yeah" I nod.

We make our way to the counter and wait in line to order. Once it's our turn, Brittany lets me order first before her. After a few minutes, we grab our beverages and head back to the table to sit back down again. Things are a little awkward at first because no one knows who should start talking or what to start talking about. I figure someone might as well say something to take us out of this awkward silence so I start off.

"So how did you get my phone number?" I ask as I take a sip from my hot coffee.

"I asked some of our friends at work. I thought it would be good to talk outside of work so we're not distracted during work" she explains.

"It makes sense I guess" I say.

"I just figured we should finally put to rest what happened and leave the past in the past and get to know each other again. I mean we did used to be best friends so it'll be interesting if we can get back to that place or if we're just too different now" Brittany says.

"We are both a lot older now so it will be interesting to see how much we've changed or how little we've changed, I don't know" I shrug.

"At the end of it all though, we still need to see each other and work together every day so we should do this to get on a better footing with one another. Whether things work out or not, we need to build some sort of bridge so things aren't awkward around each other anymore" she states.

"I agree" I nod. I have no idea if we can be friends or not but we should have this conversation today to see once and for all where we stand with one another.

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I really need to try and update more but anyways, let me know what you think of the story so far.


	4. Getting To Know You

Chapter 4: Getting To Know You

Brittany's POV

Santana and I have just sat down to coffee together. I figured since we've got the day off work then it would be a good time to get to know each other again away from the set so I invited her to coffee. Things have been a little hectic recently so we haven't had a lot of time to talk since everything about the past came up so I'm hoping we can talk things over. I would love it if we could be friends again but who knows if that will happen because we are older now and are adults. I don't know what's being going on with Santana the last 12 years so for all I know she might have changed and we're not as similar as we once were.

"So how have you been Santana?" I ask. It's a general question but it's an easy one to start with. We're not working and have the whole afternoon to chat so there's no point in rushing into things. We can take our time and really talk things over with one another.

"Yeah I've been ok" she shrugs. "My life really isn't that exciting to be honest" she adds.

"Yeah, it's the same with me" I shrug.

"Can I ask you a question though?" Santana asks.

"Of course" I smile.

"These last couple of days, were you avoiding me?" she queries.

"I wasn't actually" I shake my head. "In the beginning I was just giving you some space and keeping out of your way but then we became busier on set so there wasn't really much of a chance to talk" I add.

"You managed to hang out with our colleagues but never had the time for me, I find that a little suspicious" Santana states.

"I swear I didn't do anything on purpose. I apologise if it looked that way but I promise I wasn't avoiding you. I mean we somewhat settled the past so I had no reason to avoid you" I explain. "Anyway, I'm here now and so are you so we should catch up and let our feelings out if we have any issues" I smile.

"I'm actually looking forward to catching up with you" she smiles back.

"Me too" I say. "It'll be really interesting to see how different or similar our paths have been for us both the last 12 years or so" I add.

"Yeah. So, what have you been up to Brittany?" Santana asks curiously.

"Well after our show ended, things did kinda dry up for me and acting. Apart from that role after our show finished, not much else came about. The role ended after one season because the ratings absolutely tanked" I admit.

"And because I wasn't in it" Santana smirks.

"Most probably" I say seriously. Santana and I would have killed it working together, in a good way of course, and then the show would have lasted a lot longer.

"So, what did you do after your show got cancelled?" she asks interested.

"I went back to school. I mean I had an odd job here and there but I went to school permanently again and I even enrolled in college. I wanted something to have to fall back on but college only lasted a semester so I got a full-time job and did what acting I could" I explain.

"That's pretty much my whole 12 years except I didn't get the one season of the show and I didn't go to college either. After our show, I did a couple of commercials, went back to school and like you I had a couple of jobs to pay the bills while trying to get back in the game" she replies.

"What kind of jobs?" I ask nosily.

"I worked in a restaurant, a bar, a shop, I was a nanny, like literally all kinds of things" Santana states. "You?" she asks.

"Quite a vast range of employments too" I nod. "I had a few weeks working in McDonalds at one point before quitting because I hated being known to the kids as the fries lady" I laugh.

"You've got to make ends meet somehow I suppose so it's nothing to be embarrassed about" Santana smiles.

"So, what about living arrangements, do you have your own place?" I ask.

"I don't actually" Santana shakes her head. "I actually still live at home with my parents and siblings" she says embarrassed.

"Hey, it's nothing to be embarrassed about" I smile. "There is no point in moving out and then getting yourself into debt because you left your parents too quickly and can't afford all the bills" I say.

"If I could afford it then I would have moved out I think" she tells me.

"Maybe you will be able to afford it soon since the show is doing so well" I point out.

"That's true" Santana nods. "So, do you live on your own then?" she asks me.

"I have moved out of my parent's place but I live with a roommate" I say. "One of my good friends and I decided to move in together because it's a lot cheaper than renting our own places" I add.

"Your best friend?" Santana queries.

"We're close I guess and we have some other friends too so I wouldn't say best friend" I shrug. I am equally close to all of my friends so none of them are better than the others so I wouldn't say I have a best friend.

"Cool" she replies.

"I should have you come over some time to hang out and you can meet my friends if you want" I suggest.

"Sounds good" she smiles. "I would say you can come to my place and hang out too but my house is a bit crowded so we'd probably get more peace and quiet at yours" she adds.

"Do you know what, I should have you and the rest of the cast over next week. My roommate is going out of town actually so we could have a mini party or something, just us work colleagues" I say.

"It might be nice to hang out with the rest of the cast more because apart from work and this right here, we all don't really see each other much" Santana replies.

"That's settled then, I'll invite everyone over next Saturday" I smile.

"I better get myself in that gym then ASAP otherwise I'll be turning up next weekend for a party in a paper bag since all my fancy clothes don't fit me anymore" she laughs.

"Oh I'm sure that's not true" I shake my head. "It's a casual hang out anyway so you don't need to go to too much trouble and dress up and stuff" I shrug.

"Seriously though, ever since we started on the show, I think I have gained a few pounds because we're not getting a lot of free time to exercise or eat healthily so we're always just eating quick and easy foods" Santana states.

"I kinda know what you mean actually" I nod. Santana is right there because we're always busy on set working these crazy hours so when you do get a minute, it's just to refuel, you don't have time to exercise.

"Actually, I should probably hit the gym after this" she tells me.

"You look in good shape to me so I wouldn't worry about it" I assure her.

"Thanks" she smiles.

"I've always thought you looked great. Even as a child you were always so pretty" I say.

"I appreciate you saying that but I always felt different as a child compared to you. You were a cute little blonde who everyone loved whereas I was always that one they didn't know where to place" Santana says sadly.

"Who cares what other people thought. You and I both knew you were beautiful so don't think you weren't" I say seriously.

"Thanks Brittany" she smiles.

"You look great now as well by the way" I tell Santana.

"Thank you but this body is not exactly all mine" she replies. "I got breast implants at 18" she adds.

"Seriously?" I say in surprise and she nods. "So did I."

"Wait are you messing with me right now?" she asks.

"No, I swear I got them. Actually, I think I was 19 but it's the same sort of time frame as you" I reply.

"I don't know if I find that cool or a little weird that even after so many years apart, you and I are still a lot alike. When we were kids, all I wanted was what you wanted and vice versa. Somehow it's still happening even when we don't know it" Santana smiles.

"I know" I smile back.

"You look great too by the way" she tells me.

"Thank you" I smile again. "So, what did your mom say when you told her you wanted the surgery?" I ask curiously. When we were kids, Santana's mom was quite like my mom and I know my mom hit the roof when I told her I was going to get plastic surgery.

"Yeah she wasn't pleased" Santana laughs. "I was adamant I was going to do it though so eventually she just had to get used to it because I was going to take myself to that surgery one way or another so it was happening" she adds.

"My mom wasn't thrilled either but she knew she couldn't really stop me so as much as she didn't like it, she was there with me at the hospital and helped look after me after the surgery" I say.

"Yeah that's the same with my mom" Santana replies.

"Do you regret the surgery?" I ask curiously.

"Not at all" Santana shakes her head. "I was just always so thin so even though I grew up into a woman, I was still quite flat chested so I wanted to do it for me" she explains.

"Yeah, I know the feeling" I agree.

"I definitely did not do this for someone else's benefit. This was all for me personally so it wasn't to get other people's attention or to get jobs, this was for me" she states.

"I understand" I smile. I get it because I was insecure in myself so that's why I did it, not because I wanted guys to notice me more or to make them happy.

"So, you don't regret it either then?" Santana asks me.

"Not really but I must admit, I do have the odd day where sometimes I do regret it because I don't want to put this image out there to other people that to be in this business you must change yourself" I say honestly.

"I get what you're saying but if you feel better then why do you need to explain yourself to anyone else. If you're happy then that's all that matters" she points out.

"I suppose" I smile. "Do you know, I can just see the headline right now about this" I laugh.

"I know" Santana nods.

"10-year-old former best friends, reconnect 12 years later over their matching boob jobs" I laugh.

"Exactly" Santana laughs.

"This is so weird isn't it" I say with a chuckle. "I feel like I know you but at the same time I feel like you're a stranger to me" I add.

"I know exactly what you mean" Santana nods. "I can see you look the same but just more grown up now but it still feels weird to interact with you as an adult. I remember that first day you introduced yourself to me. You were so nervous" she says, thinking fondly on the memory.

"I remember you with your curly black hair and the little mole on your chin" I smile.

"Yes well those days are gone. Hair straighteners are now so much more popular and I finally went to a doctor and they zapped that thing right off my face" she shrugs.

"I suppose" I smile.

"To be fair, hair straighteners were around 12 years ago, my mom just didn't let me use them a lot" she tells me.

"That was the same with me and tanning procedures. I was always so pale as a kid but now I'm older, I am allowed to play in the sun or have a spray tan" I laugh.

"Seriously though, this is nice just reconnecting and stuff" she smiles.

"It is so let's keep going" I say.

"Ok" Santana laughs.

"So let's get down to some personal business, are you single?" I ask nosily. I know I have only just reconnected with the woman so it probably is none of my business but at the end of the day, Santana was always my 8-year-old best friend to me who I was super close with.

"Uh…yes I am" Santana answers nervously.

"Don't worry, I kicked my last guy to the curb recently so we can be single together" I shrug.

"Ok, cool" she laughs.

XXX

"Well it's been great catching up but I should probably be heading home now" I say.

"Yeah me too because I didn't really tell my parents I was going out so they'll be wondering where I am right now" Santana nods. "I'll see you at work tomorrow though" she smiles.

"Yeah" I smile back. "Thanks for coming today, hopefully we can hang out again together and get to know each other even more" I add.

"I am definitely down for that" she replies.

"If we don't get a chance sometime soon then you'll definitely come to my place next weekend for the mini party I mentioned, right?" I ask.

"I definitely will" she nods.

"Excellent" I smile. "Well have a safe journey home and I'll see you tomorrow" I say.

As soon as we grabbed our stuff, we left the café in different directions. Honestly though, this has been one of the best afternoons I've had in a long time. Santana and I are finally on good terms and I think I could get my best friend back eventually. I know we're older now and have other friends but I still think the old Brittany and Santana are in us somewhere so I'm confident I can get us back to then. Hopefully things will be a lot more interesting now though since we're older because I don't want my best friend back to play with toys, I want some real fun like getting drunk at parties and stuff. I adored young Santana but I can't wait to finally see what adult Santana is like and to see if she is like me and likes the same things I do.

"Hey Jess, it's me" I say as I enter my apartment. "Jessica" I say as I get no reply from my roommate.

"Sorry I'm here, I was in the bathroom" Jess replies as she comes into the room.

"I wasn't sure if you were still out or not" I say.

"I got home about half an hour ago" she replies. "Is this you just getting back from coffee with Santana?" she asks surprised.

"Yeah" I nod. "Once we got talking, we just couldn't stop so we spent a lot longer than we intended to catching up but it was really fun" I smile. It just makes me so happy to think about Santana again and being friends again.

"It went well then?" Jess asks.

"Really well, honestly it was great" I say.

"When do I meet this former best friend then because I need to know what I'm up against if my friend status could be in jeopardy" she teases me.

"Don't worry, you and I are still going to be friends" I laugh.

"I hope so" she smiles. "Seriously though, when can I meet her because you have talked about her nonstop since you two started working together again?" she asks.

"I did invite Santana here next weekend with the rest of the cast but you'll be out of town then so I guess it'll need to be when you get back" I reply.

"Ok, cool" Jess smiles.

"So, what are your plans for the rest of the day then?" I ask.

"I don't really have any, I was just going to relax" she tells me. "What about you?" she asks.

"I'm back at work tomorrow so I do want to run over some lines at some point so I'm well prepared for the next few days" I say.

"I could help you run lines if you want?" Jess offers.

"Yeah that would be good, thanks" I smile.

"It's no trouble" she smiles back.

I am so lucky to have Jess in my life because she's an amazing friend and has always supported me through my journey to achieving my dreams. It kinda reminds me a little bit of what Santana and I used to have all those years ago. I really hope that Santana and I might be able to get back to that again because it was great having a friend who knew exactly what you were going through and how hard things could be sometimes.

* * *

Santana's POV

Oh my god, I am so tired this morning. After my catch up with Brittany yesterday, I just couldn't stop thinking about it. It was just so great to see her again and finally put any issues we had between us to bed. I couldn't sleep the whole night last night because I was too excited to get to work today so I could see her again. I know that sounds a bit much since we're just friends but we were such close friends when we were younger that all we wanted to do was be together.

I'm just in the hair and makeup trailer right now because I need to shoot a scene very soon so I need to get into character as quickly as I can. I've got quite a few scenes to get through today and luckily some of them will be with Brittany so I'm looking forward to that. Firstly though, I need to shoot a few solo scenes so it's going to be a little while before I probably see Brittany or get a chance to talk to her today.

"Someone seems tired" the makeup artist tells me as I yawn once again.

"I am" I sigh. "I barely got any sleep last night because there was so much going through my mind" I explain.

"Thinking about someone maybe?" she teases me.

"Kind of" I shrug.

"Let me guess, a cute guy you have a crush on or something that you want to take out on a date?" she asks.

"No definitely not" I shake my head. "I am off the dating scene right now and just focusing on me and this amazing job I have" I state.

"You do need those times sometimes where you're just focusing on yourself and doing what's right for you because relationships can be suffocating sometimes and they don't always end well" she tells me.

"You sound like you've just had an experience recently" I say.

"My ex and I broke off our engagement a few weeks ago so I'm perhaps a little bitter right now about relationships" she states. "Don't let me put you off though" she adds.

"I'm really not looking for a relationship right now. There are other things I want to focus on at the moment so I just want to do that and maybe in time I'll want to get back out there and find someone" I say.

"You never know, with the number of hours all of you guys are here on set then you could all end up with each other. I mean you're not getting a whole lot of free time to meet other people so I wouldn't be surprised if one or two couples formed during the show" she points out.

"That might be true for some people here but it's not going to be me. I very much doubt I'll get with any of my castmates" I shrug. We're not as close right now but I can see all of us growing closer the more we all work together and hang out so I wouldn't be surprised if I saw them as my brothers and sisters. I definitely don't think I'll become attracted to them.

"Only time will tell I guess" she shrugs.

We're mostly silent for the next little while as my makeup gets finished off. I'm just about to get up from my chair so I can head to wardrobe to get changed in my character clothes when the door opens. As soon as I see the reflection in the mirror of who is behind me, my heart starts racing and I suddenly get all nervous. I'm not really sure why I'm nervous right now because we've cleared the air and we seem to be on good terms now.

"Hey you" Brittany says as she comes up behind me, gently putting her hand on my shoulder as she slips through between the two chairs to sit down next to me.

"Hey" I smile.

"Have you got a scene to shoot soon?" she asks me.

"Yeah in like 10 minutes so I'll need to get to wardrobe pretty quickly" I reply.

"And get that makeup started fast too" she states with a smirk.

"Hey, don't be rude" I laugh.

"I'm not" she says in mock confusion.

"I have been here for a while, are you honestly telling me I look the same as when I got here this morning, makeup free?" I ask.

"This is the first time I have seen you today so it's possible" Brittany shrugs.

"Well I can assure you I have had all my makeup done so this is me in character now" I state.

"I'm only messing" she smiles. "It's looks great. You look great" she adds.

"Thank you" I smile back. "Anyway, I should really head off now but I'll see you at some point today no doubt when we need to shoot the group numbers and stuff."

"Yeah, I'll see you soon" Brittany smiles.

I quickly leave the makeup trailer and head to wardrobe. I then quickly get changed and make my way onto the set to shoot my first scene of the day. It doesn't really take any time at all since we pretty much got it nailed in a take or two so I'm onto shooting another scene before I know it. I'm now just about to shoot a scene with Artie and Mercedes so we're just waiting on everyone getting set up and ready to go.

"Did you have a hot date last night?" Artie asks me.

"No" I say while frowning in confusion. Why would he think that?

"Are you thinking about a hot date then?" he asks me.

"No" I shake my head. "Why do people keep asking me things like that? I was asked this morning in makeup if I was thinking about a guy and now you're assuming I had a hot date last night."

"You just seem in an awfully good mood today…no offence" Mercedes replies.

"Yeah you keep smiling a lot today which you don't always do when we're on set" Artie adds.

"I didn't realise I was acting any differently than usual" I shrug.

"So has something or someone got you in a good mood then?" Mercedes asks.

"Uh…I don't know" I say embarrassed. I really don't like all of this attention I'm getting right now because I didn't realise I wasn't my usual self today.

"We can see you don't want to talk about it so we'll leave it there" Artie states.

"Thank you" I smile.

"Hey guys" Brittany says startling me as she walks over to us.

"Uh…hey" I say surprised to see her.

"Did I give you a fright?" she asks amused.

"A little bit because I didn't realise you would be here right now. I thought the 3 of us were just about to shoot a scene on our own" I point out.

"Yeah I'm not in this next scene, I just came to watch because I have a spare 5 minutes. I thought I might as well take some tips from a good actor like yourself" Brittany shrugs.

"Ok, cool" I smile.

"Ok, I get it now" Artie smirks at Brittany and I.

"I beg your pardon?" Brittany asks confused.

"You and Santana are talking nicely to each other which clearly means you both have sorted some stuff out. Also, Santana seems in a really good mood today and I'm guessing that's since you two are friends again so I'm saying I see now why she is so happy" Artie replies.

"Oh" Brittany nods, understanding what he means.

"FYI, I'm not in a different mood today. I am glad we're friendlier now but I don't think it's changed me" I shrug. Ok maybe I am slightly happier today knowing Brittany and I are good now but I don't need everyone to know about that because it's personal.

"I'm glad too" she smiles at me.

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It's been another busy day at work so far so I'm finally glad to be getting a chance to take a break right now. I've been in scenes, dance numbers and the music studio already today so I really am thankful to get 15 minutes in my trailer right now to recharge. I grabbed some food from catering on my way here so I'm just sitting down to eat right now. Hopefully if I can eat quick enough then I will have 10 minutes to lie down and rest.

As soon as I've finished eating, I just get myself comfortable on the couch when there is a knock at my trailer door. I groan loudly at the interruption before reluctantly walking towards the door and opening it up. To my surprise it's Brittany standing on the doorstep so the angry look on my face is quickly replaced with a smile.

"Hey" she smiles at me.

"Hey" I reply.

"I know we've only got a short break so I won't keep you long. I just wanted to give you this" Brittany says while handing me a folded piece of paper.

"Ok" I say confused while unfolding the paper. "It's an address" I state.

"Yeah it's my address" she smiles. "You'll need it on Saturday when you all come over for the little gathering I'm hosting" she explains.

"Oh, ok" I laugh. I honestly had no idea what she was doing but I get it now. "I suppose it would be helpful to know where I'm going" I smirk.

"Yeah" she smiles. "Anyway, I'll leave you alone again and see you on set in 5 minutes I guess" she adds.

"You're here now so you might as well wait with me until we need to head back to the set" I say. There is no sense in Brittany going back to her trailer to waste a few minutes walking there to then go back to the set so she might as well spend the 5 minutes with me.

"Ok, cool" she smiles. "So, what were you up to on your short break?" she asks.

"I just quickly had something to eat and then I was just resting" I shrug.

"It's been a busy day so far, hasn't it?" Brittany says.

"It really has been but I wouldn't want it any other way" I smile. As much as it is a stressful job, it is a great place to work and I get to do what I love – acting and singing. Also, it is nice to get to know Brittany again as well because she meant a lot to me when we were younger.

"I can't wait until the episodes finally air and we get to promote the show and stuff. It's going to be so much fun going to all the different places and doing interviews and being able to talk about the show" Brittany states.

"I know" I nod in agreement. "It's been so hard for me not to say anything about the show because I just want everyone to know how great it is" I add.

"Yeah, I just know as soon as we're allowed to talk about things, I'm going to be talking nonstop to everyone about the show. People on twitter will get sick of me constantly bombarding their feeds with posts about the episodes and spoilers. Hell, I might even end up with less followers because they'll all unfollow me because they'll be fed up hearing about the show" she laughs.

"At least you have followers to unfollow you. I barely have any in the first place because I've been in and out of acting so much. I don't really have many fans either" I chuckle.

"Surely you have all your friends and family following you?" she points out.

"Yeah but my family isn't that big and I don't have that many friends either. It's not easy holding up friendships when your lives are so different. My friends from school and I drifted apart because I was trying to make it as an actress so I wasn't around all the time. Then those people I did meet during work didn't really grow into a friendship because you worked with them and then moved on to another show or another commercial" I explain.

"I kinda know what you mean actually" Brittany agrees. "If I'm honest, if I didn't live with Jessica then we probably wouldn't be friends anymore. We have such different careers so the only time I see her is at home so that's the only reason we're probably still friends because we get that time at home together that I don't get with anyone else" she adds.

"Our friendship when we were younger meant a lot to me because we were always on the same page so we wanted the same thing and knew how the other felt. I kinda wish I had that growing up" I admit.

"I wish I had that too" Brittany smiles.

"We always knew exactly what the other was going through and I think that would have been really helpful during my teenage years. I mean being a teen isn't the best anyway but when you don't have that person who relates to you and understands you then it makes things harder" I say.

"I definitely agree with that" she replies. "It was hard enough being the girl with acne never mind adding on the girl who was always missing classes going to auditions and stuff as well."

"Wait…did you get bullied at school?" I ask shocked. I always assumed Brittany was popular and friends with everyone.

"Teased I would say, not exactly bullied. It wasn't fun being called pizza face nor was it fun hearing the comments about Brittany Pierce thinking she's better than everyone. People assumed I had a chip on my shoulder or I was too cool for school because I would be missing days here and there for acting gigs" Brittany explains.

"That's horrible" I say while shaking my head. I hate knowing she went through all of that.

"It's all in the past now" she shrugs.

"I know but it must still affect you because it affects me. I was sort of teased myself at school for similar reasons to you. I would be missing days to do a commercial or do the odd episode of a show. However, they would tease me by saying I wasn't a real actress if I still had to go to school. Like they assumed I wouldn't be able to make it only doing a couple of odd jobs" I say.

"You were teased for the opposite of me then. They seemed to tease me for thinking I was better than everyone whereas you were teased for not being good enough since you couldn't quit school and go fulltime" she replies.

"Exactly" I state. "I mean…"

"Ladies, why aren't you on set?" one of the assistants asks as he opens my trailer door and interrupts me.

"Shit I didn't even notice the time" I say as I look at the clock. We must have got into such a deep conversation that we didn't even realise that the 5 minutes were up and we were due to start back on set

"Let's go" he states before walking away with Brittany and I quickly following him.

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I am just home from work but I'm rushing around trying to get ready. Brittany is having her gathering tonight so I'm trying to make myself look presentable enough for a get together with our friends. Even though I am tired from a full day of work so it would be nice to have a quiet night, my exhaustion is overshadowed by how excited I am. It's going to be so much fun to hang out with Brittany outside of work again and really get to know her even more. I know what 10-year-old Brittany likes to do to have fun but what does 22-year-old Brittany like to do?

As soon as I'm showered, I get dressed and do my makeup. I then grab my purse and jacket before running downstairs to the kitchen. I rake through the cupboards before choosing a couple of bottles of red and white wine. I thought it would be rude to turn up to Brittany's house without making a contribution to the party so I decided to steal some alcohol from my parent's since I don't have time to go to the store. My parents said they didn't mind as long as I buy them more when I get a chance.

"Santana, are you ready?" my brother asks me annoyed.

"Yes" I reply.

"Come on, let's go then" he says while walking towards the front door.

I say goodbye to my parents before heading out the door with my brother. I persuaded him to give me a ride to Brittany's place so I didn't need to take my car there. I didn't see the point in driving myself there because it would mean I couldn't have alcohol and I didn't like the thought of that. I must say though, my brother is not happy about doing me a favour. He's only doing it because I promised not to tell my parents a secret about him if he did this favour for me.

"Ok where I am driving you to?" he asks me.

"It's not too far from here actually so…"

"I just need the address; I don't need a full story about it" he sighs.

"Fine" I glare while showing him the piece of paper. He then drives off to where we're going.

"Ok, get out" he states as he comes to a stop at the side of the road.

"I beg your pardon?" I say while taking my seatbelt off.

"Get out of my car because we're here" he tells me.

"Yes I can see that but I was meaning don't speak to me like that. What the hell is wrong with you tonight?" I ask. I didn't realise doing your sister a favour was such a big annoyance.

"I should be with my girlfriend right now not here with you blackmailing me" he sighs.

"I'm hardly blackmailing you" I laugh. "Plus, I don't think it's such a big deal to give me a ride to a party considering the drive was only 10 minutes. I've done you plenty of favours in the past before so this shouldn't be such a big thing" I point out.

"Look the quicker you get out of my car, the quicker I can see my girlfriend so please just leave" he states.

"You really are such a dick" I say while shaking my head and then exiting the vehicle. I don't even bother saying goodbye, I just slam the door shut. I then quickly make my way inside and upstairs to Brittany's apartment.

"Hey, come in" Brittany smiles as she opens the door once I've knocked on it.

"Thanks" I say.

"Are you ok, you look mad?" she asks as we walk inside and into the living room.

"Just family stuff, nothing important" I shrug.

"If you need to talk about anything then I'm here to listen because no one else is here right now" she smiles.

"Wow first here…that's embarrassing" I chuckle.

"Someone has to be here first plus work did run late so I'm not surprised some of the others aren't here yet since there was only a short window of time to get ready" Brittany shrugs.

"I suppose" I smile.

"Seriously though, if you want to talk then I'm here" she tells me sincerely.

"Honestly it's no big deal. My brother was just being annoying tonight. I asked him if he could give me a ride here instead of me taking a cab and he did nothing but make me feel guilty for the small favour he did" I explain.

"Siblings can be like that sometimes I guess. I'm lucky though because I only have sisters and they're both older than me so they like to look after me" Brittany says.

"Well I'm the oldest so I guess my brother feels I should be the one taking care of him not the other way around or something" I say.

"He's still your brother though so I wouldn't feel bad about asking him for a favour. I mean family are meant to help each other out" she points out.

"Exactly" I nod.

Brittany and I talk for a little while before she decides we might as well just get the party started ourselves. She pours us both a drink and then we get some music on. Eventually some of the others begin arriving so Brittany disappears for a little bit, making drinks and some snacks for all of us. I was going to help but she told me she would handle it and I could stay and have fun with the others.

"Party time" Mike yells excitedly as he comes through the door.

"Party time has already started Mike" Tina smirks. "You're the last one to arrive so we've already began the fun without you" she adds.

"I better get myself a drink poured then and join in" Mike says as he heads to the kitchen to get himself something to drink.

It doesn't take us long to get the party in full swing. We're drinking and dancing along to the music. I think Quinn has also organised us some drinking games to do soon. I don't know if I'm excited or nervous about that but I am sure it'll be fun either way. Before we do get too drunk though and not have a clue what's going on, I'd like to talk to Brittany for a second. There is just something I need to explain to her because it's a pivotal part in whether we can regain that friendship again as it used to be or if we might not be able to be as friendly again.

"Hey, can we talk for a second?" I say to Brittany. "Privately I mean" I add.

"Of course, let's go to my bedroom" she says while taking my hand and leading me to her room. When we get there, she closes the door and we take a seat on the bed.

"I need to tell you something that I've been afraid to say for a while now but I feel like for us to be proper friends again then I need to be honest with you" I say while taking a deep breath to prepare myself.

"Ok so what's up?" she asks curiously.

"It's really personal to me so please take a second to think about what I'm saying before perhaps judging me" I say nervously.

"Santana I would never judge you" she assures me.

"You might after what I tell you" I sigh.

"I doubt it but I'm all ears so what's going on?" she asks with a smile.

* * *

That's it for chapter 4, let me know what you think


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